The Stevens Can Filling Machine 



-^ 


cFDR TDMATDEB.^Ie^ 


WILLFUL 




CAPACITY: 


21b., 31b. 


■■«Pj|PS^^^sjS|««g 


Foot 
» Machine 


OR 

Gal. Cans 




M 10,000 to 
r 14,000 Cans. 


Full Every 
Time. 




^H 


Power 
Machine 






s® ^ 


20,000 to 






i^ 30,000 Cans 


NO WASTE. 


'aa:^^^^^^^^^^^^^^.^r^"=-^ Per Day. 




MANUFACTUBED ONLY BY— 


— 


Maurice B. Avars. 




SALEM, 


N. J. 





resses, Dies ^ Can iaking Tools. 



Everything Needed in a First-class Can Sfjop 

MANUFACTURED BY 

-^AYARS' MACHINE WORKS,H- 



Established 1849. 



s^leim:, i<r. J". 



Canning in the South, 



Jk. THJ^TSTJDIZr 



]TOrmation_Book 



'OR- 



SOUTHERN GANNERS. 



By THOMAS GAMBLE. 

(COPYRIGHTED.) 



Mirror of Commerce ». \ fi 

AND ^rr- /__;, ^ 

Southern Oanners' JouRNAii. 
^Savannah, Ga. 



This compendium of information useful to Southern canners 
and those contemplating starting canning factories in this sec- 
tion, was prepared to meet a growing demand for a concise work 
of this character. The publisher has had the benefit of the expe- 
rience of practical canners in a number of Southern States, to all 
of whom he returns thanks for the information so readily fur- 
nished. 

Thomas Gamble. 
Savannah^ Ga. 

COnSTTIEItTTS. 

Chapter I — Canning as an Industry for the South. 
Chapter II — The Best Method of Organization. 
Chapter III — The Cannery on the Farm. 
Chapter IV — Labor and its Remuneration. 
Chapter V — What to Can and What to Pay for it. 
Chapter VI— The Buildings and Plans for Plant. 
Chapter VII— Plants and their Cost. 
Chapter VIII — The Amount of Help Required. 
Chapter IX — Number of Cans to a Bushel, etc. 
Chapter X — The Canning of Fruits. 
Chapter XI — Vegetables and their Canning. 
Chapter XII — Time of Exhausting and Processing. 
Chapter XIII — Standards of Canned Goods. 
Chapter XIV— The Marketing of Canned Goods. 
Chapter XV— Obstacles to Canning in the South. 
Chapter XVI — Can Making in the South. 
Chapter XVII — Forms of Contracts. 
Chapter XVIII— Allied Industries. 
Chapter XIX— General Information of Value. 



^ 



CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 5 

CHAPTER I. 
Canning as an Industry for tlie South. 

In considering the establishment of any industry there are 
certain things that must be kept constantly in view if success is 
desired. The principal of these are: 

First. The amount of money required for the purchase and 
location of the plant. 

Second. The presence of a sufficient supply of raw material at 
moderate prices. 

Third. The existing demand for the particular kind of goods 
produced. 

Fourth. The facility with which they can be marketed. 

Fifth. The probability of obtaining prices that will give at 
least a fair return on the capital invested. 

Sixth. The securing of necessary labor and accustoming of it 
to new conditions of occupation. 

Seventh. The outlook for an expansion of the demand to 
keep pace with the increase in the supply caused by the starting 
of new factories and the enlargement of those already in operation. 

Any man, or combination of men, having any experience in 
business matters will give all of these details careful and thorough 
consideration before investing any money in a new enterprise. 
In addition to these, if they are far sighted, they will give proper 
heed to the opportunity that will be aftorded them, in case of a 
financial pressure, of realizing immediately to some extent upon 
their products. 

These conditions apply with equal forc3 to any and all sections 
of the country Thev are part of the economic theory of success- 
ful industrial life. Unless they can be satisfactorily met the 
success of an enterprise is rendered to some extent dubious. When 
the scope of the problem is broadened and the industry under 
consideration is intended to cover a vast extent of territory in its 
ramifications, these matters become of even greater importance 
in their bearing on the final result. By the test of such interro- 
gations, then, as well as by the question of adaptability to climatic 
and other conditions, the industry that is best for the South must 
be tried. To the extent that any one of the many that may be 
suggested meets these requirements, it will meet the industrial 
needs of the South and give a reasonable assurance to its people 
that in investing their money they are doing so with a prospect 
of securing at least an average rate of interest and of building up 
their immediate localities, and the South as a whole, in one of the 
greatest sources of wealth and power — manufactures. 



6 CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 

The canning of vegetables, fruits, oysters, fish, meats, etc. — 
or wliat is ternaed the canning or packing industry — meets tliese 
and all other requirements more fully and more satisfactorily than 
any other industry open to the tSoutli, and has the additional ad- 
vantage of having already been amply tried in every portion of 
the South, with various of its products and under the most diverse 
conditions, and in practically every instance with abundant suc- 
cess crowning the efforts of those tiuancially interested. Looking 
at it in any light, or in all lights, the same favorable conclusion 
must be reached. 

To begin with, the canning industry requires but a small 
outlay of money to completely pay for the plant. The amount 
of money needed to purchase a single machine in many other 
manufacturing industries will, in this one, buy the plant through- 
out and place it in position ready for operation. A plant that 
will permit of a daily output worth, at factory rates, from $120 to 
$200 can be bought for from $300 to $500. Another, the value of 
whose output would be from $250 to $400 per day, can be had for 
$800 to $1,000. Almost any building is suitable for the industry, 
and if none is at hand one can be erected at an additional cost of 
but a few hundred dollars. This makes it possible for a few men 
in a conamunity to establish a canning factory without any one 
of them risking a very large sum of money. One hundred shares 
of stock at $25 per share can be disposed of in any small town for 
such a purpose, and an industry started which will pay out in 
wages m two seasons more than the entire capital invested, 
and be of benefit to every individual in the place. In addition, 
much money will be kept at home that would otherwise go North 
and West for the same class of goods. 

The raw supplies for the canners are either already found on 
all sides, or are easily procured by enlisting the interest of farmers 
quick to see the advantages of such a market tor crops that they 
hitherto may not have raised through lack of an opportunity to 
dispose of them. At several points in South Carolina, Georgia, 
Tennessf^e and other States, farmers are devoting a considerable 
acreage to the raising of tomatoes for canning factories newly estab- 
lished in their vicinity. They have met with so much success 
that in coming seasons many more will give up ground to this and 
other vegetables. They will, in this way, not only secure ready cash 
at a season of the year when they need it badly, but they will, at 
the same time, by cutting down the acreage of cotton, benefit 
themselves greatly as regards that product. This diversification 
of crops will also enable many farmers to live much better than 
before, and will serve to relieve the South of the stigma that her 
farmers have nothing to eat but "hog and hominy." Fresh 



CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 7 

vegetables daily will be a desirable addition to many country 
tables, and will be especially welcome when it is remembered that 
the cost, under such circumstances as these, is absolutely nothing. 

Along the South Atlantic and Gulf coasts, oysters, ciams, 
terrapin and shrimp are already canned in large quanti- 
ties every season. The canning of tish is but the next 
step. Some of these canneries are so fortunately situated 
that they eventually will secure vegetables and fruits to 
work oil during the summer, and in this way be 
enabled to continue operations over a much longer period than ' 
Northern or Western factories, having practically no "closedown." 
Farther back from the coast vegetables and fruits are obtained 
during a much greater part of the year than outside ot the South. 
This is a strong point in favor of the' canning industry in the South. 
In Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, 
Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and Kentucky factories are now 
turning out every season hundreds of thousands of cans of toma- 
toes, corn, beans peas, succotash, etc., together with apples, 
peaches, pears, plums and other fiuits. Some locations naturally 
h ve an advantage over others with regard to certain j^roducts of 
the soil suitable for canning. In central Georgia, for instance, the 
canning of peaches is destined to become an immense industry. 
In Florida tropical fruits will be more generally canned. Guavas 
are on the market from that State that excel those canned in the 
Bahamas. Pine apples, at the rate the cultivation of that delicious 
fruit is progressing, will forge to the front within a few seasons. 
Oranges are also being canned with success, and it is now believed 
that other tropical and semi-tropical fruits will be added to the 
list. In Eastern Georgia and South Carolina considerable okra 
is being canned to meet the steady demand for that article in the 
South. There is no reason why this vegetable should not be as 
well known North and West as here. Beef canning is also in 
prospect in Florida, while down in Texas large plants are either 
in operation or being constructed for the canning of meats. 
The immense possibilities of that great State in this direction sur- 
pass the imagination. It is possible for Texas to supply the 
world's demand for canned meats for centuries to come. 

Of all the things enumerated, and of many others as well that 
are used by canners, there is in some sections of the South an abun- 
dance. There is no place where a sufficient supply of one or more 
of them is not obtainable either at present or within a season or 
two. Of the raw supply for no other industry is this true. Iron 
and coal are found only in certain limited localities. Lumber 
suitable for furniture, etc., is scattered, and so on through the list 
of availables. Of all the industries that of canning is the only one 



8 CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 

the raw material for which can be secured in every State, and 
almost every portion of every State in the South. Tliat this is 
true is perhaps better demonstated l)y a statement of tlie factories 
now in this section (1893). As far as can be ascertained there are 
now nearly 500 in all, divided as follows : 

Alabama 17 

Arkansas 18 

Florida 25 

• Georgia 25 

Kentucky 10 

Louisiana 13 

Mississippi 25 

North Carolina 50 

South Carolina 36 

Tennessee 30 

Texas 60 

Virginia 175 

West Virginia 10 

As an adjunct to canning a number of these factories also 
pickle and preserve. 

At the rate of their increase in number within the past three 
or four years, there will be fully 1,000 canning factories in the 
South within the next four years, while the total output for this 
section will be increased by 400 per cent., as many are now pre- 
paring to greatly enlarge their plants. 

Of the demand for canned goods it is hardly necessary to speak. 
Every one intelligent enough to be interested in the subject under 
discussion realizes its immensity from personal observation. 
Figures show that it is growing at a much more rapid rate than 
population in this country, while the increase of the demand in 
European countries is astonishing. Newmarkets are being found 
in all the old countries of the world, as well as in those to our 
south on the new continent. There is seemingly no limit to the 
probable expansion of the demand, while at present the opening 
of the season generally finds the markets of the United States 
almost depleted. It is safe to say that for no other articles is there 
the same steady popular demand, or the same prospects of the 
future demand keeping up with or ahead of all possible supply. 
Manufacturers who have suffered so severely from overproduction 
will realize what this means. The rapid increase in the number 
of factories North and West, as well as South, and their general 
prosperity are sufficient answer to the question as to whether j^ro- 
fitable prices have been the rule for their products. 



CANNING IN THE SOUTH. -f 

^ EVERY SOUTHERN CANNER ^ 

AND 

EVERY PROSPECTIVE CANNER 

Sliould Subscribe for '■"' 

THE MIRROR OF COMMERCE 

AND 

Souttiern Canners' Journal 

Of Savarinati, Ga. 



A MoDthly PubHcatiou devoted to the interests of 
the Canning Industry in the South. 



SUBSCRIPTION, $100 PER ANNUM. 



SAMPI.E COPY SEIVX FRBE on APPI^ICAXION. 

Jlddress THOMAS GAMBLE, Manager, 



10 CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 

When the question of labor is coni^idered it is even more 
plainly apparent that this is the ideal industry for the Soutli. 
Out of one hundred employees in a canning factory there will not 
be a half dozen whose services are indispensable, that is, whose 
places could not be filled by taking in persons ignorant entirely 
of the business and giving them a few days' training. Despite 
this fact fairly good wages are paid for this class of labor, and 
there is no cause for complaint on the ground of unjust com- 
pensation. The factories already in operation in the South have 
given employment to hundreds of people who would otiierwise 
have been unable to earn any money at all. Home labor, and not 
imported labor, has, with extremely few exceptions, been em- 
ployed. To what extent is this true of other industries? 

As to markets, they are everywhere, beginning at the door 
of the factory and extending nearly 25,000 miles, around the globe 
and back to it again. Wherever theie are people to be fed, civil- 
ized, semi-civilized or barbarous, there is a market for canned 
goods. The canner in the South can begin by supplying his own 
near-by towns and then send his surplus, if he has any, to the 
greater markets beyond. ]f he needs money at any time, it is 
doubtful if there is any line of goods on which it could be more 
speedily realized, or at less loss than canned products. 

All these things unite to make this an industry peculiarly suit- 
able for a section where money is comparatively scarce, where 
labor is crude, where diversity of crops is needed, where the soil is 
capable of producing everything that can be raised elsewhere, and 
where there is already a consuming population of 20,000,000 peo- 
ple, all eager to patronize home industries. Northern canners 
realize that the South is the canning centre of the future. Already 
its canned goods have cut a wide swath into the demand for their 
products. They feel the effects of Southern competition in this 
industry and acknowledge it. They know, even if the people of 
the South do not realize it, that the South is especially adapted to 
this industry. They are watching its progress here with both in- 
terest and anxiety, and there is the best of reason to believe that 
the investments some of them have made here are to be soon follow- 
ed, in quick succession, by others. It behooves the people of the 
South to take this most promising industry in hand and secure 
and maintain control of it. 

It is the best industry for the South. 



CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 11 

CHAPTER II. 
Tlie Be§t Metliod of Organization. 

Under the existing circumstances, it is generally better to 
organize companies in the South for the establisliment of canning 
factories than for individuals to attempt to conduct such enterprises 
depending on their own financial resources. Too many of the 
latter class of canning factories have failed, even when advanta- 
geously situated, owing to the too limited capital of the proprietors. 
In a number of instances parties have exhausted their entire 
capital in the purchase of a plant. Being forced, to seek credit at 
ruinous rates, to obtain the money with which to meet the run- 
ning expenses, they have found the way a rocky one and, too 
frequently for the good of the industry in this section, have been 
forced to the wall. A similar financial fate would have been 
theirs in any other industry. Canning factories are no exceptions 
to the well established rules of business. Deviation from correct 
principles invites disaster. No enterprise can expect to succeed 
which is working on borrowed capital with the rate of interest at 
8, 10, or even 12, per cent. 

The cost of a plant and building is nothing but a basis on 
which to calculate the amount of capital required. While a 
suitable structure may be built and machinery with capacity de- 
sired may be bought and placed in position for $1,000, there are 
several items of continuous expenditure that must be carefully 
considered. Even for a small pack the cost of cans will run well 
up into the hundreds of dollars. The difference between cash and 
time payments is considerable. Labor must be paid regularly if 
satifactory service is desired. The average number of persons to 
be employed must be ascertained and the weekly pay roll de- 
termined for the entire season, the duration of which will depend 
upon the products canned and, to some extent, the situation of 
the factory. On the coast, for instance, the season for oysters, 
etc?., is placed at five months. So far no Southern factory of this class 
has been able to secure vegetables or fruits in such quantities, or 
at such prices, as to justify canning them except as experiments. 
In the interior, some factories are enabled to obtain a sufficient 
supply of vegetables and fruits to run them for four or five months, 
the number of employes of course being largest at the height of 
the season, or during a period of about six or eight weeks. It is 
well for the beginner to be liberal in such estimates. The processor's 
salary, being usually a matter of special contract for the season, 
is a known quantity. With his assistance, and a knowledge of 
tlie supply of raw stock that can be depended upon, it will be a 



12 CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 

comparatively easy matter to figure out this important item of 
expense. Elsewliere, comparative statements will be found of the 
wages paid the several classes of labor in the Southern States, to- 
gether with the number of hands required in the operation of 
plants with capacities ranging from 1,000 to 10,000 cans per day. 
The cost of the vegetables and fruits consumed is another item 
that will reach large i^roportions during a packing season. The 
great inducement held out to farmers in the South to raise supplies 
for canning factories is that these are cash crops and that the 
money, coming in at a time of the year when they are usually 
sorely pressed, will greatly relieve them. If a regular supply of 
material to pack is desired cash payments must be made, other- 
wise growers are apt to reach the conclusion that it does not pay 
them to give up their land to this purpose. In this connection itmay 
be remarked that, in the present state of agriculture in the South, 
it is essential that arrangements be made for an adequate supply 
before a canning factory is established. A number have been 
forced to close down, atleast temporarily, through failure to ob- 
tain the needed stock to work up. Contracts should be made to 
this end and their terms rigidly observed. A carefully compiled 
table will be found on another page showing the average prices 
paid in the South for vegetables and fruits, the average number 
of bushels to the acre, and the number of cans to the bushel. 
Tom'atoes, for example, will be found to average, in fair soil, 300 
bushels. A bushel of good tomatoes will fill from 18 to 20 2-lb. 
cans, or 12 to 15 3-lb. cans. The yield from one acre is sufficient 
for about 5,700 2 lb. cans, or about*4,000 3-lb. cans. An acre, then, 
can be depended upon to furnish a supply for practically three 
da.ys' operation of a factory whose plant has a capacity of 2,000 
2-lb. cans daily. Twenty cents per bushel of 60 lbs. being the 
average price paid for tomatoes by the Southern canners, the pur- 
chase of rhe crop from an acre necessitates an expenditure of about 
$60. With these figures before him the canner, knowing the 
quantity he desires to pack of any vei^etable, can easily ascertain 
the number of acres or bushels he should contract for and what 
his expenditure for supplies of each vegetable or fruit purchased 
in this way will be. Ample capital should be on hand to carry 
the enterprise through the first year, at least, without recouise to 
the money lenders. 

A stock company is generally able to raise a larger amount than 
the individual or firm. It also has the advanta<^e, through its 
membership, of awakening a greater public interest in its success. 
Stock should be made of a par value that will be within the reach 
of all. A good price per share is §25. Two hundred shares at this 
figure would give !i)5,000— a sum with which a fair size factory 



CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 13 

could be started with excellent prospects of success. Where a 
subscription contract of a proposed corporation fixes the capital 
stock at a certain sum divided into shares, the whole amount of 
capital so fixed must be fully secured by a bona fide subscription 
before an action will lie upon the personal contract of the subscrib- 
ers to the stock to recover an assessment on the several shares, 
unless there is a provision in the subscription contract to proceed 
in the execution of the main design before the whole amount of 
capital is subscribed. Endeavor to make the capital as large as 
possible to provide a margin for all contingencies, and do not be 
carried away by too strong a desire to start out with a large pack 
the first season. 

In organizing a company it is advisable, if in any way possible, 
to enlist the co-operation of a few farmers. By putting the shares 
down to small values this can be done. As soon as a farmer has 
money invested in such an enterprise, no matter how small the 
amount may seem to others, his interest in its success is aroused, 
and it will be an easy matter to get his valuable assistance in the 
raising of those vegetables and fruits that the factory will need. 
The farmer, as the producer of the necessary raw supplies, is a 
factor whose importace to the industry cannot be over-looked. 
Neither should he be disregarded as one whose financial assist- 
ance should be invoked. Several companies have likewise inclu- 
ded in their membership, for business reasons, one or more grocers 
who have handled largely of their output and induced others in 
that business to act as middlemen between the company and the 
consumers. It is not best to agree to allow one house, unless it be 
a large wholesale concern with a trade suflficient to exhaust it, to 
control the entire output of a factory. 

As managers are expensive, care should be taken in the selection 
of officers and directors to secure capable business men who can 
give some of their time to the actual management of the factory. 
In the small towns, where canneries are generally being located 
in the South, the business men, as a rule, can do this without in- 
flicting personal loss upon themselves. Having a financial inter- 
est in the enterprise they are more apt to see to it that it is con- 
ducted economically and carefully than a manager merely engaged 
for a few months would be. A small factory, working on a small 
capital, cannot afford a manager unless he is likewise processor 
and willing to assist in any other of the work of canning. Skilled 
processors are becoming more numerous in the South every year, 
and reliable men can now be obtained at reasonable salaries, who, 
under the supervision of proper directors, can conduct a factory 
satisfactorily. A great advantage is derived at the outset through 
having the benefit of the experience of such an employe in the 



14 CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 

selection of the plant. While the manufacturers will do the best 
in their power to give complete satisfaction, they cannot be ex- 
pected to be as competent to advise as to what should be boui2:ht 
as the man who has been on the ground, studied the situation, 
knows exactlj^ what the factory should be in a position to do, and 
what it will require in the way of machinery. Some Southern 
canners, going ahead blindly, have bought machinery absolutely 
useless to them, and omitted getting other that was soon required, 
thus entailing unnecessarily Heavy expenditure at the outset. 



CHAPTER III. 
Tlie Cannery on tlie Farm. 

The former chapter is intended to bear principally upon the 
establishment of canning factories in town, and by town people 
who do not expect to do more than invest their money and give 
the benefit of their direction and support. The situation is diflfer- 
ent in some respects when the smaller home cannery, put up on 
the farm and operated by the farmer and his help, is considered. 
To begin with, there is frequently no necessity of the construction 
of a special building. This is a considerable saving at the start. 
If a building is needed it can be of a cheaper character than is 
required in a city. Then, unless the farmer is going into canning 
on an extensive scale, his plant need cost him but a comparatively 
small amount. He can dispense with the expensive steam appa- 
ratus, involving considerable expense in operation, and adopt the 
most simple method known. By this course he does not tie up 
much of his capital in the plant, and in the event of any mishap 
is not a heavy loser by the experiment. 

The farmer enjoys many advantages as a canner not possessed 
by those whose factories are located in town. At the same time 
he is placed at some disadvantage by extra cost of transportation, 
and by the inconvenience he labors under at first in seeking 
avenues for the disposal of his goods. The latter is overcome by 
time and effort ; the former, except in rare instances, is far from 
being an insuperable obstacle to success, as is demonstrated in 
Maryland where scores of farmers profitably operate canning fac- 
tories at home. 

The Southern farmer is peculiarly well situated to take up the 
canning industry. He can raise almost every vegetable and fruit 



CANNING IN THE SO'JTII. 15 

321, 323, 325, 327 N. HOLLIDAY ST., BALTIMORE, MD. 

? 



MonuigBntal Label Go. 

BALTIMORE, MD. 



Designs and Estimates Cheerfully Furnished. 
ESTABLISHED 1857. 

fl. K. KOBII7S & CO., 

724 East Pratt St., - BALTIMORE, MD., 



•MANUFACTURERS OF 




1 - MIIMII, ' MK 



Having large faoiiities we are prepared to 
furnish upon short notice. 

CORRESPONDENCE SOLICITED. 



16 CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 

that is used for canning purposes. To provide supplies for hiis fac- 
tory lie need not give up a large portion of his plantation to such 
crops. As has been stated, sufficient tomatoes can be secured 
from an acre for 4,000 3-pound cans. Ten acres will yield sufficient 
for 40,000 cans— the market value of which will be from $3,500 to 
14,000. And so with other vegetables and fruits. 

By setting aside a small portion of his land to this purpose he 
can continue the raising of cotton, and such other crops as he had 
been previously devoting his entire attention to, on but a slightly 
decreased scale. He need not endeavor to raise canning supplies 
to such an extent as to seriously hamper his other farm opera- 
tions. His vegetables and fruits can be made his incidental sur- 
plus crops. If near a market the early pickings can generally be 
disposed of there at fine prices, the canning being postponed until 
it is no longer remunerative to ship to town. By this method two 
cash returns are received from these crops and material financial 
assistance is rendered the farmer in the event of his cotton or 
other crops being a failure or commanding such low prices as to 
wipe out all profit so far as he is concerned. At the same time, in 
many instances, he will be enabled to live better so far as table 
fare is concerned. 

The capital required by a farmer is greatly decreased through 
his raising his supplies and by the further important fact that his 
labor can be utilized in the canning factory at much less expense 
to him than falls to the lot of other canners for the services of 
employes doing the same class of work. In a section where negro 
labor is so abundant that able-bodied men can be secured as farm 
help at $8 to $10 a month with light rations, the farmer has a 
decided advantage when he enters an industry in which such a 
great proportion of the labor requires but a day or two's training 
to render it fairly proficient. Some quite extensive canneries in 
the South employ active girls as peelers, etc., at 15 to 30 cents a 
day, and have no trouble in getting men and women at 35 to 75 
cents for the performance of more arduous work. 

Farmers putting up small packs should seek to make their 
output of superior quality, so that it will be readily recognized 
as first-class and secure prices in accordance. This they can 
easily do, having the fruits and vegetables freshly picked, if they 
will but give to the industry the careful attention necessary to com- 
plete success. In placing their goods on the market they should 
refrain from injudicious cutting of prices. Their goods are entitled 
to the same prices as others of a similar quality, no matter where 
packed. 

A plant of the character indicated, of ample capacity, can be 
bought, a furnace built and every thing put in readiness for opera- 



CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 17 

tion at a cost of between $300 and $400. Cans vary in i:>rice. It 
is well not to estimate lower than $25 per 1,000. The discount for 
cash, about 10 per cent., is an item that cannot be lost sight of. 
Then there are expenditures for labels, solder, cases, etc., to be 
considered. Prospective canners must not allow themselves to be 
misled into the idea so many seem to have entertained, that the 
money for the plant in hand little else is required. The output can- 
not be sold by the dozen as rapidly as the cans are filled. Money 
is required for the labor and supplies outside of fruits and vegeta- 
bles. It may be necessary to hold the canned goods several 
months, frequently it is decidedly profitable to do so before market- 
ing. For these and other reasons that will at once suggest them- 
selves to sensible men who desire to enter the business to make 
money and not to lose it, it must be urged that farmers do not go into 
canning unless they either have sufficient money or are in a posi- 
tion where they can secure whatever amount may be necessary 
to carry them along until the returns of the season's pack arrive. 
There is a fair profit in canned goods, the industry, as has been 
stated, is peculiarly suited to the South and the Southern farmer is 
wise to take advantage of the opportunity it affords him. Failures, 
though, no matter how caused, will tend to give the industry a 
black eye in this section and greatly retard its natural develop- 
ment. Ninety per cent, of those that have so far occurred have 
been due to the lack of capital — the starting of factories under the 
impression that once the plant was in readiness for operation it 
would run itself without further expenditures. The South is going 
to be the great canning section of the United States and that 
speedily, but it will not become such by the rushing into the in- 
dustry of men who have not intelligently considered the cost and 
prepared accordingly. A large capital, it is true, is not necessary, 
but $250 or $300 is totally inadequate, no matter what may be 
written otherwise. Men with such an amount will benefit them- 
selves and the industry in the South by placing the money in a 
limited home stock company where the accumulated capitals of a 
few would put all in a position to derive large dividends from 
their investments. Four or five farmers, for instance, could unite 
their money in this manner, select a central site for the factory, 
put up a cheap frame structure, buy a small plant, devote a couple 
of acres each to the raising of supplies, join their efforts in canning 
time and find the industry one that would yield them handsome 
cash returns. The larger the output the less the proportionate cost 
per can to the packer. There is ample room in the South for 
many of such factories as this and a career of prosperity open to 
all. 



18 CANNING IN THH SOUTH. 

The farmer who has sufficient capital to buy his plant and 
supplies and who has the determination to overcome difficulties 
should seek in advance tomake arrangements with the merchants 
of the towns of his vicinity to handle his output. By making con- 
tracts with them for future delivery, he will be in a belter position 
to command financial assistance aud to judge as to what srales he 
can absolutely rely on. The home market is the one to be culti- 
vated by all Soutliern canners and especially by those who are 
working on a small scale and a limited capital. 



CHAPTER IV. 
Labor and Its Reiiiuiieratiou. 

In correspondence with practical Southern canners of consid- 
erable exi:>erience and success, stress has been laid by them upon 
the fact tiiat many canneries in this section are paying their pro- 
cessors wages entirely too high and unjustified by their services 
and the profits of the'business. These large salaries are too heavy 
a drain upon small industries. There is no reason why a proces- 
sor should receive a sum altogether out of proportion to the wages 
paid other help. Many have seen the error of contracting with 
men to do this work at'from !?75 to §100 a month, and have secured 
equally capable and reliable employes at from |40 to |6a. A saving 
of from $200 to |250 a season in the pay of one assistant is an item 
of much importance. The same principle of proper economy must 
be applied to all classes of labor. With competition so keen, 
freight rates against them, and the task upon them of building up 
a new industry, Southern canners cannot aflTord to give more than 
is being paid for labor elsewhere, and, if anything, considering 
the large amount of idle labor in this section, should secure the 
off -setting benefit of a much smaller pay roll. 

Another thing to be guarded against is the employment of too 
many hands for the quantity of work to be done. Southern can- 
ners,' not having had the benefit of a training in the business, 
have frequently expended far more money than was necessary for 
help the first season or two. Indeed, to these causes a number 
have largely attributed their failure to do more than meet expenses 
until observation taught them what an average individual can be 
relied upon to do. In some factories all labor is paid by the day, 
and it is in such that especial care must be taken in this respsct. 
There is a difference of opinion among Southern canners as to 



CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 19 

whether it is best to offer a stipulated sum daily or to pay in 
accordance witli the amount of work done. The preponderance 
of experience favors the latter as the best course to pursue in every 
class of work that permits of it. 

In the preparation of the following statements as to the proper 
remuneration for labor in Southern canneries, the knowledge of 
canners in all parts of the South has been freely drawn upon. 
They will be found of permanent value to those already in the 
business, as well as to the many others who contemplate starting 
factories. From them it will be easy to judge as to what should 
be paid for any class of work not specified : 
CLASS OF LABOR. By Day. pay. 

Processor and Tipper $ 1 50@$2 50 

Tipper 1 00 

Capper , 1 00@, 1 50 

Packer 1 00 

Fireman 1 00 

Labeler 25@ 50 

Peeler 25@ 50 

Scalder 25@ 50 

Wiper 8f @ 50 

Common Labor 50@, 75 

By Piece. 

class OF WORK. AMOUNT. PAY. 

Tipping per 1,000 | 75 

Capping per 1,000 75 

Packing (hand) per 1,000 75 

Labeling per 1,000 25 

Peeling Peaches, standard, per bucket (2* galls.) 04 

Peeling Peaches, pie per bucket (2| galls.) 02J 

Peeling Tomatoes per bucket (2| galls.) 03 

Peeling Apples per bucket (2| galls.) 02^ 

Stringing Beans per bucket (2J galls.) 03 

Husking Corn per 12 ears 01 

Shucking Oysters per 72 ounces 08 

Shelling Peas per bushel 15 

Some Southern canners have adopted the i^lan— and with ex- 
cellent results— of paying all employes, except those labeling or 
peeling, shelling, husking, etc., by the hour. This has been done 
owing to the irregularity of the work. The standards of pay are 
10 cents per hour for men and 5 cents for women. 

Wages will vary somewhat in different sections, but the tables 
are an excellent standard to go by. The piece wages given are 
practically those furnished by canners widely scattered over a half 



20 CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 

dozen States. A few paid 2^ cents instead of 3 cents per bucket 
for peeling tomatoes, and but 3j ceuts for standard peaches. Seve- 
ral canners wrote that they paid their capper and tipper §25 per 
month each ; while one had good service from employes in this 
capacity at but $20. Considerable depends on the state of the local 
labor market, but the wages specified are fully up to the average, 
if not slightly above, and it is not advisable to pay more. And, 
by all means, do not contract for a processor at §75 to §100 a 
month. Other Southern canners are paying from -S40 to §60, and 
it will take the profits of many cans to make up the difference 
between such wages and those that are so confidently asked for 
by some processors applying for positions. 

A vexatious question in this connection is that of the relative 
merits of white and negro labor. In many places in the South it 
is extremely difficult to secure sufficient white labor to operate a 
canning factory. White labor, too, as a rule, expects better pay 
for the same services than negro. In order to accurately deter- 
mine the value of negro labor in this industry, and the extent to 
which it is employed, canners in a nuuober of Southern States 
were requested to answer these questions : 

Do you make use of colored labor in your factory ? 

If so, how does it compare with white labor in cost and 
efficiency ? 

If not, what are the objections to its use? 

Many responded. With but two or three exceptions they all 
employed negro labor to a greater or less extent. The majority 
had found it satisfactory. Several others, peculiarly situated, can- 
didly acknowledged that they preferred it and if in a position to 
secure it would use it largely. Some stated that they had about 
half negro and half white labor, with no preference. The few ex- 
ceptions referred to opposed negro labor entirely on the grounds 
of uncleanliness, unreliability and slowness. With the experience 
of many showing that negro labor can be utilized with satisfactory 
results, it is apparent that these objections have no general appli- 
cation. If negroes are employed they naturally should be selected 
with care. Cleanliness and steady work it has been found can be 
enforced without great trouble. The average negro can be quickly 
trained to peel, scald, pack, wipe, label, etc., while white labor, 
or a more intelligent and higher price grade of negro labor, can 
be used for capping and tipping. If both classes of labor are used 
the same price must be paid for the same work, otherwise dissatis- 
faction and dissension will inevitably ensue. To prospective can- 
ners, who are naturally greatly interested in this matter, it can 
be emphatically stated that practically all of the work, under pro- 
per direction, can be done by negroes, of wnom there is generally 
an abundance eager to secure work in every Southern community. 



CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 21 

E. W. BLATCHFORD & CO, 

CHICAGO, - - ILLINOIS. 

Manufaeturers of 



SOLDER. 



We make all standard forms and grades, and guarantee pro- 
portions of Tin and Lead as represented. We beg to call your 
attention to the special forms adapted for Capping 2-pound and 
3-pound cans as follows : 

-^WIRE SEGMENTS.^ 

These are curved to shape of the can crease of standard sized 
opening cans, and fit snugly in the crease until contact with the 
soldering coppers or steels. These segments give universal satis- 
faction in Hand Capping, or when used with the "Cox," 
"Ferguson," "Warfield," and similar Capping Machines. 

-^WIRE SOLDERH- 

on Spools, is especially adapted for use on "The Canadian," 
'Climax," "Norton" and "Triuoaph" Capping Machines, and 
properly used is the most economical mode of soldering on either 
of these Cappers. 



SEND FOR SAMPLES AND PRICES. 



E. W. BLATCHFORD & CO , 

70 N. Clinton St., CHICAGO, ILL. 



22 ' CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 

CHAPTER V. 
l¥Iiat to Can and IThat to Pay For It. 

What shall be canned ? What shall be paid for supplies ? 
There are no questions confronting the Southern canner that are 
of more importance and in the answering of which greater care 
should be taken. The overstocking of markets is fraugTat with 
disastrous results. As regards the few articles in tin for which 
there is an enormous demand, circumscribed only by world-wide 
limits, there is little fear of this occurring. When others are con- 
sidered, for some of which there may be but a comparatively local 
call, it is found that there is constant danger of the supply vastly 
exceeding the requirements of consumption. Okra, for instance, 
of which the dried article can be bouglit when the green vegeta- 
ble is not in the market, finds but little demand outside of the 
South. Of such an article it is easy, with each Southern canner 
ignorant as to what nearly all the others are packing, to have the 
markets so overrun that no one can obtain a price yielding a 
profit, and many be forced to carry a large part of their stock over 
to another season. The same statement is true of okra and toma- 
toes, of guavas, of squash and other articles. 

The great staple canned goods are tomatoes, corn, peaches, 
peas. Following them are beans, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, 
squashes (in vegetables), and apples, pineapples, pears, plums and 
the berries. In the absence of an Association of Southern Can- 
ners large enough to enable its members to obtain a reUable state- 
ment as to what the probable pack of each article will be, it is 
well for them, unless exceptionally situated, not to go heavily 
into any other than the first four mentioned. For them there is 
practically alv/ays a demand sufficient to exhaust the pack. As 
the output of them increases the consumption keeps pace with it. 
Of the other articles — pineapples excepted — this is not always the 
case, and more caution must be observed in packing them. Of 
course, if a canner is in a section where he can get an abundance 
of beans at low prices while peas are scarce and high, common 
sense will dictate the packing of the beans in preference to the 
peas. So as to apples. Certain sections are favored with this 
fruit of a fine quality and in such great quantities that it can be 
obtained for little more than nothing. Apples, under such cir- 
cumstances, might naturally be the mainstay of a factory. But 
many factories — perhaps the majority — will be so situated that, if 
they desire to contract for them, sweet potatoes, or beans or 
squashes can be obtained in equal abundance, and at as low prices 
comparatively as tomatoes, corn or peas. It is in these cases where 



CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 23 

a wise discrimination must be observed. To such tliere is but one 
thing to say : Subordinate the pack of other vegetables to those 
(first) of tomatoes, (second) of corn, (third) of peas. This is the 
unanimous verdict of Soutliern canners. An old maxim, to the 
effect that it is not wise to carry all one's eggs in one basket, is 
likewise not without its application in the canning business. 

Certain sections are destined to become the canning centres 
for certain fruits or vegetables. Just as New Jersey and Mary- 
land are famous for their canned tomatoes, so will Central and 
Southwest Georgia, and parts of other Southern States where the 
fruit flourishes, become noted for th*^ir canned peaches; and 
Florida, rapidly developing into a great pineapple producing 
State, become the headquarters for that division of the canning 
industry. Peaches and pineapples are two of the best paying 
products of the cannery. The margin on each is good, and is 
especially large on the fancy stock. The attention of Southern 
canners, and prospective canners, cannot be too frequently called 
to the fact that the best profits are always to be obtained from the 
high grade goods. Don't, under any circumstances or with any 
fruit or vegetable, sacrifice quality for the sake of quantity. It 
is an error, intentional or otherwise, that will soon bring almost 
irretrievable ruin on the offending canner. This is rapidly ceas- 
ing to be a cheaj) nation, so far as food is concerned. The discrim- 
inating public becomes larger every year. It may be possible to 
dispose of poor goods the nrst season at remunerative prices, but 
the result will be seen the succeeding year in general suspicion 
that will cost the canner far more than his previous dishonest 
gains. 

The berries are not regarded as safe from the canners' stand- 
point. Althougti blackberries, growing abundantly and requiring 
no expenditure save that for picking, cost but a small amount, it 
is well to pack very sparingly of them. Strawberries pay better, 
but the same caution holds good. Whortleberries or huckelber- 
ries may be included in the same category. Pears and plums may 
be packed more freely, and offer a fair margin of profit. Along 
the coast, where asparagus culture is spreading, the canning of 
that delicious vegetable will pay after the Northern markets fail 
to offer remunerative prices for raw stock. Lima and string 
beans, okra, and okra and tomatoes, squashes, and sw^eet potatoes, 
all offier a reasonable profit, but each one carries with it an injunc- 
tion to avoid packing in excessive quantities under ordinary con- 
ditions. Make them part of the output, but, except in rare cases, 
do not make any one of them the most prominent factor in the 
season's work. 



24 CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 

The following table showing the prices paid for supplies, ha^ 
been prepared from the statements received from numerous 
practical Southern canners. Its value is apparent : 

Average Cost for Supplies. 

[Figures based on statements received from Southern canners. 
Prices vary somewhat in different sections of the South and 
according to fullness of crops. The finest quality of fruits com- 
mands prices above these figures. As to very poor fruits or vege- 
tables, it is decidedly better not to pack them.] 

Apples $ 40 per bushel. 

Asparagus 7 50 per 100 bundles. 

Beans, Lima 80 per bushel. 

Beans, String 20 per bushel. 

Blackberries 50@75 per bushel. 

Corn 7 50 per ton. 

Guavas 60 per bushel. 

Huckleberries 75@1 00 i^er bushel. 

Okra 40 per bushel. 

Peaches, standard 50@75 per bushel. 

Peaches, pie 250/40 per bushel. 

Pears 50@/75 per bushel. 

Peas 30 per bushel. 

Pineapples 4 50(o)5 50 per hundred. 

Plums 1 00 per bushel. 

Pumpkins 3 50 per ton. 

Quinces 75 per bushel. 

Squashes 8 00 per ton. 

Strawberries 1 25 per bushel. 

Sweet Potatoes 1 25 per barrel. 

Tomatoes 20 per bushel. 

[Further information is given in the chapters on the canning 
of fruits and vegetables.] 



CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 25 

CHAPTER VI. 
The Buildings and Plans for Plaut. 

In the planning of a building for canning purposes four 
things should be aimed at — ample space, good ventilation, abun- 
dance of light and a constant adequate supply of pure water. 
Each is of sufficient importance to entitle it to consideration as a 
specific object to be kept steadily in view. No inatter how cheap 
the building or how rudely constructed, it should be large enough 
to permit of the work being done without employes being hin- 
dered by lack of room. The machinery, tables, etc., should not 
be cramped together. The aisles should be broad, so that those 
moving the goods about in the several stages need not interfere 
with others. As in the majority of factories the canning is done 
in the summer months, there should be sufficient windows to 
secure proper ventilation. If a factory is but half ventilated or 
half lighted the same amount of work cannot be obtained fr.»ni 
emj^loyes as if attention had been paid to these important details 
of the building. Even though it may cost somewhat more, it is a 
wise expenditure that will bring far more satisfactory results than 
if a false economy had been observed, 

Astbereis nothing about a cannery that is more essential 
than pure ivater^ the providing of it must be among the first 
things considered. Many Southern factories have wisely had 
artesian wells drilled. In most localities this is not such a heavy 
expense as to render it inadvisable. Wherever practicable such a 
source of supply should be provided. In the case of large facto- 
ries it is generally absolutely necessary. In country canneries the 
ordinary well water may be used, provided it is free from contam- 
inating influences. By all means see to it that pure water is at 
hand before beginning operations. 

Just as canners vary in their processes so do they all have 
their personal preferences as to the arrangement of their plants. 
The thing aimed at by all is to prevent any unnecessary moving 
of the goods from the time they reach the factory until they are 
ready to be cased for the market. The plant is put up with this 
object in view, and in all factories where experienced rhen have 
been in charge the general plan is similar. No matter what the 
capacity of the plant may be its arrangement should be about the 
same. Of the accompanying diagrams. No. 2 was prepared at a 
recently built Southern factory with a capacity of 5,000 cans a day. 
The manager had been in charge of several factories and knew ex- 
actly what was needed. In order to lessen the chance of flre, he 
buried the gasoline tank about twenty-five feet from the building, 



26 



B 




CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 



ti n 






-MANUFACTURERS OF 



CANNING SPECIALTIES, 

WIPING MACHINES, 

TOPPING MACHINES ; 

The Great Labor Savers, 

CAPPING MACHINES. 

COAL OIL BURNERS, 

Producing the Hottest Flame 

For Heating Capping Steels 

and Soldering Irons. 
Noted for Simplicity and Economy. 

PRESSES, DIES AND SPECIAL MACHINERY. 



BURT MANUFACTURIN6 EO., 

ROCHKSTER, N. Y. 



27 




tt'Ja X$3AN 



28 CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 

leaving the top level with the earth so that it might readily be filled. 
Pipes connected it with the fire pots and the small air pump, 
through the use of which pressure was obtained to force the gas 
to the factory. None of the tables was made a permanent fixture. 
They can all be moved in the event of a change being desired. 
The general arrangement he regards as eminently satisfactory in 
its practical results. 

The cost of a building of the size of this (No. 2), with shed 
attached, will vary according to location. In this building, which 
is one story in height with roof slanting from walls fifteen feet 
high to a central peak twenty-five feet high, and eaves projecting 
about two feet over the edge, leaving openings for ventilatiug pur- 
poses, the lumber cost but $125, the factory being situated not far 
from a saw mill. Negro labor was used in its construction and 
the total cost did not pass $300. The building expense can best 
be ascertained from a reliable contractor in the neighborhood. 

Diagram No. 1 shows the arrangement of a plant using steam 
power and with a capacity of about 10,000 cans a day. The build- 
ing, 124 feet long by 30 feet wide, is divided into two rooms, a 
small apartment at the west end, 24 feet long, being used for the 
boiler and engine, and, if desired, for the storage of some thous- 
ands of empties. In the main portion of the building the loca- 
tion of the canning plant is given. A large space being unoccu- 
pied can be used, if desired, for the storage of filled cans, although 
if such a plant is operated anywhere near to its full capacity an 
additional small building will be needed for storage purposes. 
The space given up to storage in the diagram can be readily util- 
ized for tables for peelers, etc. As there is always a probability 
of an increase in capacity, the putting in of special machinery, 
etc., the unoccupied space is pretty certain to be called into use 
within a season or two. It is a good plan in erecting a building 
to always allow space for additions to the plant. A rough shed, 
running around one front of the building, can be thrown up and 
the peelers, buskers, etc., stationed there, or, if this is not desired, 
they can be put to work in the main building. Under such an 
arrangement of the plant as this the article being canned moves 
in a circle w^ith as little inconvenience us possible. Changes may 
suggest themselves as desirable. The diagrams are given merely 
as suggestions and not as arbitrary rules to guide canners. 

Diagram No, 2 shows the arrangement of a plant with a ca- 
pacity of 5,000 cans a day. It is an excellent model for plants not 
using steam power. As'in diagram No. 1, there is abundant space 
for a corn cooker, pea separator, or any other special machinery 
that may be purchased. The main building is 60 by 35 feet, with 
a semi-enclosed shed at the end which is 50 by 35 feet in size. The 



CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 



29 



^£:A^/~£:A/CL.GS£:/:y s/^e^^ 



AiAIN BUJLblNG, - 60 FftT 



3fc 



Vr ABLCS^ I 




05 £XHAUST 



\-rABLes-l 



LT/=>,gi^e^ 1 






i^ 



AMD 
I AOOAiy 



boiler is of 25-horse power. Witla but a small outlay a change to 
steam power could be made. Near the boiler is a water tank ^ 
elevated about 10 feet. Beneath it is a small pump, connected 
with the artesian well, which is 15 feet beyond the line of the 
building. In one corner will be noticed a large wash trough. This 
is supplied with hot and cold water. Every employe, before be- 
ginning work, is required to thoroughly wash hands and arms. 
Cleanliness is the firs^t rule to be en-orced in a canning factory. 

If tomatoes, for instance, are being canned, coming from the 
scalder, which is supplied by hot water from the boiler, they can 
be dumped on large tables under the shed nearby. Here they are 
rapidly peeled. If not being hand packed they are then sent to 
the can-filling machine in the main building, close by the en- 
trance. The can-filler, it will be noticed, is near the capping 
bench, to which the cans next go. The fire pots on this capping 
bench are connected by piping with the gasoline tank, buried 
about 25 feet from the building. A steady fiame in this way can 
be secured for heating the capping and tipping irons without sub- 
jecting the building to danger from the gasoline. Frorn the cap- 
per's hands the cans, after being placed in the exhaust crate^ 
go to the exhaust kettle. Then they are swung back to the 
table to be tipped. The next step is to the test tub, where a mo- 
ment suffices to show whether the capping and tipping have been 
properly done; then to the process tank, followed by the cooling 
tub and they are ready for the labeler and the storage room. 
Everything, it will be seen, is placed so that there is as little mov- 
ing about as possible. If peaches are being canned, the rotary 
peach parers, attached to a table in the main building, are brought 



30 CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 

into play. From this table the peaches can be passed to another 
table, running along the same side of the room, to be halved and 
stoned, if a machine is not being used that does this work, and 
then sent across the room to a table where the packers await them. 
This table is near that of the capper, to which the cans next go. 
This sufficiently illustrates the principle of the arrangement. No 
matter how large or how stnall the plant, the same orderly sys- 
tem must prevail or confusion to some extent will ensue. Speed 
is of great importance about a cannery, and everything that will 
retard the movements of employes must be avoided. 

Storage is a matter properly considered at this point. The 
best thing to do is to erect a small frame building for the purpose. 
One about 30 by 40 feet in size will answer except for very large 
factories. Canners are sometimes advised to put a second story 
to their factory for storage room. This practically necessitates 
an elevator, and the supports must be made very strong. If only 
50,000 cans are stored the weight is over 100,000 pounds, or say 55 
tons. Several Southern canners liave met with great loss by the 
collapsing of buildings of this character. The majority of South- 
ern canning factories will be so located that ample* ground can be 
secured on which to put up a building especially for storage. The 
labeling and casing are best done in this building, Raise the 
floor sufficiently above the ground to avoid dampness. See that 
it is well supported. Provide good ventilation. Such a building 
can be usually built of rough boards, and need cost but a sma,il 
sum. 



CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 31 

CHAPTER VII. 
Plants and Tlieir Cost. 

Much of the success in canning depends on the plant. The 
factory that is properly equipped has a decided advantage over 
the one tliat is inadequately supplied with apparatus, or which 
is following methods that have been largely discarded by pro- 
gressive canners elsewhere. In an era distinguished by the de- 
velopment of labor-saving machinery and the reduced cost of 
articles into the production of which such machinery enters, 
those who fail to take advantage, to as great an extent as possible, 
of the benefits of such improved apparatus, must expect to reap 
smaller profits than those who have done so. This is equally as 
applicable to the canning industry as to others. While it is true 
that it is possible with crude apparatus to pack nearly all vege- 
tables and fruits, yet it must be app.arent to anyone that the 
difference in time and in labor required with a plant of this 
character and one that is up to the latest standards, is a serious 
matter. A few articles, of which tomatoes are the principal, can 
be packed with the most simple method and least expensive 
plant, but even with them the results cannot be as satisfactory as 
though a good, complete plant was at hand and steam being used 
for all purposes. When it is proposed to do a general canning 
business, to pack most of the fruits and vegetables offering, then 
the necessity of having some of the special labor-saving ma chinery 
becomes even more apparent. Competition is keen and the mar- 
gin of profit is not so large that one canner can allow the cost per 
can of his product to run ahead of that of another canner whose 
goods his must meet in the open market. 

The most simple method of canning, and that requiring the 
least expenditure, so far as the first cost of the plant is concerned, 
is the one that will be mainly adopted by Southern farmers who 
desire to establish small canneries at home. In it there is no 
boiler needed. A furnace, requiring about 4,000 bricks, is built 
in which the kettles for scalding, exhausting and processing are 
set. Wood or soft coal can be used as fuel. This method does^ 
quite well for toinatoes and good results can be obtained with the 
fruits and berries. All supply houses furnish practically the same 
plant witti which about 1,500 cans may be packed in a day with 
sufficient labor. Such a plant will cost, f. o. b., about 12*25, and 
is generally catalogued as including the following articles : 
1 oast n-on scalding kettle, 60 gallons; 1 boiler-iron exhaust kettle 
(l iron), diameter 86 inches, depth 24 inches; 1 boiler-iron process 
kettle, diameter 36 inches, depth 36 inches; 4 scalding baskets, 



32 



CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 



2 exhaust crates, 1 tier; 2 process crates, 2 tier; .1 sets of grate bars, 

3 furnace doors, 1 crane, 1 30-gallon gasoline tank, 1 air pump for 
gasoline tank, 1 air gauge for gasoline tank, 2 gasoline firepots, 
1 floor truck, 4 capping steels, 4 tipping coppers, 1 forging stake, 
1 vise, 1 thermometer, 1 platform scale, 2 can tongs, 1 syrup 
gauge, 1 hammer, 25 buckets. 6 capping trays, 2x2 feet; 3 peeling 
tables, 3.}xS feet; 1 packing table, 3^x8 feet; 1 capping table, 3x8 feet. 

There are two kinds of process kettles used, one open the 
other closed. This plant includes but the open kettle. With a 
kettle of this character the process is known as the ''open bath'" 
the processing or cooking of the vegetable or fruit being done at 
212 degrees, or boiling point, and requiring a longer time than in 
the "closed bath" in which the processing is done at 240 degrees. 

Steam is used with the closed top 
process kettles. It will be necessary 
only to direct attention to the uses 
of a few of the other articles speci- 
fied. Tomatoes, for instance, require 
scalding in order that their skins 
may be easily removed. The scald- 
ing kettle and the scalding baskets 
are for this purpose, the tomatoes 
being placed in the baskets which 
are of galvanized wire, and the 
baskets then immersed in the kettle 
containing hot water. After being 
peeled and i^acked in the can the 
caps must be soldered upon the can, 
hence the capping steels. The gas- 
oline tirepots give a steady flame by 
which these steels may be kept hot. 
The gasoline is furnished from a tank 
buried some distance from the building, and the air pump and 
air gauge are used in connection with it. After capping the cans 
are put in exhaust crates which are then placed in the exhaust 
kettle in which the water is at 212 degrees temperature. They 
are kept in this kettle sufficient time to exhaust or drive out the 
air through a little vent. The tipping coppers are used to solder 
up this hole at once. Then the cans are placed in the process 
crate and sent to the process kettle where the vegetable, or what- 
ever it may be, is cooked sufficiently to preserve it. The crane is 
used for swinging the crates to and from the kettles, etc. The 
uses of trays on which to place and carry cans, of the tables, 
thermometers, scales, etc., are so apparent as to need no further 
reference. 




CLOSED TOP KETTLE. 



CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 33 

Another plaut in which only the open bath process is pro- 
vided, but in which a boiler of 16 horse power is included, com- 
plete with all trimmings, piping and fittings necessary for connect- 
ing with the tanks and perforated steam coils for the scalding, ex- 
hausting and processing tanks, in the place of furnace doors and 
grate bars, can be bought for about |430. With a plant of this char- 
acter it is easy to add a closed top process kettle later if desired. 
The canner will find it to his advantage to make his tables for peelers, 
ec, at home. Any carpenter can put together tables suitable for 
this purpose for him. It is also advisable for him to add to this 
plant a test tub, by lowering the cans into which it will be easy to 
ascertain if they have been properly capped and tipped. If 
peaches are to be canned rotary parers should be added. By the 
time he has paid the freight on either of these plants and added 
a test tub and a few cheap but valuable additional articles, the 
outlay will be probably $100 greater than the figures given, 

A third "open bath process" plant catalogued by all supply 
houses, with capacity of 4,000 to 5,0U0 cans a day, includes a 23- 
horse power engine with trimmings, all necessary piping, etc., 
and an increased number of scalding baskets, crates, firepots, 
capping steels, tipping coppers, buckets, tables, etc., etc., and can 
be bought for about $575. 

Another plant, with closed top steam process kettle, 23-horse 
power boiler, etc. ,etc., with a similar capacity will cost in the neigh- 
borhood of $700. Getting up to a capacity like this the advisability 
of adding a tomato can filler and other labor saving machinery 
will be felt more than ever, and it will be found by the time 
these pressing wants have been supplied that $1,000 or more has 
been expended and the factory is quite well equipped to begin busi- 
ness. If a factory is to be started with sufficient capital to put in a 
plant of 10,009 or more cans daily, the best advice that can be 
given is to engage a reliable man, who understands the business 
and who is to remain in the employ of the factory, to assist in 
selecting the plant. His advice will be found invaluable. 

Before selecting a plant decide about what amount of mate- 
ri'^1 you are going to handle daily. Don't expect to can 10,000 
cans with a 2,000 can plant, and, on the other hand, don't buy 
a plant with 10,000 cans capacitv if you have not got the best 
of reason to believe that the material to pack nearly that num- 
ber can be obtained, and if there is not sufficient money on hand 
or in sight for the heavy exjDcnses of such a large factory. 

If you are going to pack upwards of 5,000 cans a day by all 
means put in a steam plant, with a closed top process kettle. 
With steam much more can be accomplished with the same labor 
than by the other method. Vegetables should generally be pro- 



34 



CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 




PROCESS CRATE. 



cessed in a closed top kettle. Buch a kettle can be used as an 
open bath by throwing back the lid. 

To properJy handle from 5,000 to 
7,000 cans a day the plant should 
include a 35-horse power boiler, a 
thousand gallon tank elevated, a 
steam pump to supply the tank 
with water, a closed top process 
kettle, an open bath kettle, an ex- 
^haust kettle, a test tub, a cooling 
tub, a tomato scalder and a toma- 
I to filler, which will comprise the 
heavy machinery. Then a 60 gal- 
lon gasoline tank is required and 
the air pump with piping to the 
fire pots, of which there should be 
four, and four pairs each of cap- 
ping and tipping coppers. Then 
four exhaust crates, one can deep, 
and six or eight process crates, 
three cans deep, should be included, as well as a crane and fix- 
tures. The factory should be supplied with eight tables, 8x3*^ 
feet, built slightly inclined from the edge to the center, Avith a 
small open space running along the entire center with trough 
beneath to catch the water from the tomatoes, which can be car- 
ried into a tub at the end of the table or out of the building. 
There should be plenty of knives for the tomato peelers. Three 
or four tables of the same size should be on hand for peaches, ap- 
ples and nears. Twelve rotary peach parers, two peach pitting 
machines and two apple and two pear parers should constitute 
the machinery for this department. Fifty hoopless water buck- 
ets, six large tubs, two syrup gauges, a pair of scales or two, a 
floor truck and a few other minor things will complete a plant 
which will necessitate an outlay of about $1,500. This size plant 
will be very popular in the South. It is the one that will gen- 
erally be put in. With it and economical management success 
is assured on this scale. If information is desired as to the various 
special machines and their cost it can be readily obtained from the 
manufacturers, any one of whom will be pleased to forward cata- 
logues to parties who contemplate entering the canning business 
or who are already in it, and who in addition can be relied upon 
to give all other information needed. 

From this it will be seen that to put in one of the smallest 
plants will cost from $300 to $400, and that if it is desired to carry 
on the business properly on any very extensive scale, an outfit 



CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 35 

costing from $1,000 upwards is required. For these figures 
nothing but the necessary apparatus tor the majority of canned 
goods is included. If it is desired to can corn or peas 
on a large scale then other special machinery should be added. 
With the expenditure of such amounts as have been stated, plants 
can be put in with which the fruits, berries and nearly all vegeta- 
bles can be packed up to the capacity indicated, while the few 
others can be handled in small quantities. By the expenditure of 
$5,000 for a plant a factory can be admirably equipped for hand- 
ling liractically everything with a capacity of 10,000 cans a day. 

A small plant, it must be borne in mind, can be readily in- 
creased in capacity at any time. In buying apparatus buy only 
that which is first-class. It is cheaper m the long run. If you 
8 re going into the canning business, go into it feeling that it is to 
be a li^e-time business, and common-sense will generally dictate 
correctly what is the wisest course to pursue. 



CHAPTER VIII. 
The Aniouiit of Help Required. 

The number of employes that will be required to turn out a 
certain number of cans daily depends on the plant and the skill 
of the employes. With an inadequate plant more are required 
than in a factory that is fully equipped with labor-saving appara- 
tus. Slow hands should be weeded out as quickly as possible, no 
matter whether they are being paid by the day or piece work. 

The amount of help needed does not increase proportionately 
with the output. It will take nearly as many employes, for 
instance, to turn out 1,000 cans daily as it will to pack 2,000. 
For the latter figures canners state that they employ on 
the average twenty-one hands, as follows: Twelve peelers, 
three packers, one wiper, one capper and tipper, one pro- 
c^sser, two labelers and one fireman. Some employ one cap- 
per and one tipper, instead of having one man attend to 
both. With such a force, turning out 2,000 cans daily, the 
cost of labor would be about as follows: Peelers, averaging 40 
cents, $4.80; packers, at 75 cents per 1,000, $1.50; wiper, 50 cents; 
capper and tipper, $1.50; processor, $2.00; fireman, 50 cents; label- 
ers, at 25 cents per 1,000, 50 cents; total daily pay roll, $11.30. As 
3 



86 CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 

stated elsewhere, girls and women can do the work of peeling, 
packing and labeling. After becoming expert the number of 
employes may be diminished, but the expense for labor can hardly 
be kept below these figures. It may be found necessary to 
employ a man especially to remove filled cans to the storage- 
room, to assist in casing, and otherwise be generally useful, so, 
for an output of 2,000 cans it is well to allow .$13 per day for labor, 
or $78 a week. This is as low a figure as is generally reached 
under an ably economical management. 

Increasing the output to 3,000 cans daily does not mean in- 
creasing the number of hands by one-third. All that will be neces- 
sary is to add about six or eight peelers and possibly a packer, if 
those engaged are not rapid enough to fill 1,000 cans each in a 
day. The actual increase in the pay-roll for such an increase in 
pack will be about $4.00 daily, making the pay-roll for the week 
about $100. 

For an output of 5,000 cans daily the force will have to be in- 
creased in several departments. It will be about as follows: One 
processor at $2.00; two cappers at $1.25 each; two tippers at $1.00 
each; two wipers at 50 cents each; fireman, 75 cents; peelers, 
twenty-five at 40 cents; eight packers at 75 cents per 1,000; one 
common laborer at 75 cents; one man for casing, etc., at 75 cents. 
The labeling will be paid for at 25 cents per 1,000. These prices 
secure good labor. Some Southern canners in country districts 
will pay less, and others in towns perhaps more for some classes 
of labor. It will probably also be found necessary to have a reli- 
able party to keep account of the piece work, of the supplies as 
they are delivered, and to assist otherwise in the clerical work. 
At the lowest figure it is accordingly well not to estimate lower 
than nearly $80 a day, or say a weekly pay-roll of $175. By judi- 
cious management it may, under some circumstances, be kept 
below this, but it is well to allow a margin in calculations. With 
a filling machine, if tomatoes are principally packed, that item 
may be kept down, a man being employed to operate the filler at 
$1.00 or $1.25 a day. Certain other improved apparatus will also 
be found to have the same eflfect. A conservative Southern can- 
ner, however, provides thes^^ figures as about as fair an average as 
can be given prospective canners as a guide to them as to what 
the expense for labor will be, with a good plant: 

Daily output of 2,000 cans, $ 70 00 per week 

" " " 3,000 " 100 00 " 

" " " 5,000 " 160 00 " 

" '' " 10,000 " 300 00 

If there is poor management the pay-roll with the same out- 
put may run much higher; with able management it is doubtful 



CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 37 



I 



Hamburg, Grindall and Johnson Sts., 

I3AIvTriM:ORK, IVID. 

WE MANUFACTURE 

SCOTT PEA HULLER, PEA SEPARATORS, 

PINEAPPLE GRATERS, SLICERS and CORERS. 
CORN CUTTERS, PROCESS KETTLES, 

OPEN PROCESS KETTLES, PROCESS CRATES, 

CORN SILKERS, STEAM BOXES, OYSTER CARS, 
BOILERS AND ENGINES, 
DIPPING CRATES, TANKS, PUMPS, &c. 
GASOLINE FIRE POTS, PLATFORM TRUCKS, 

CAPPING STEELS, PIPE, FITTINGS, 

VALVES, &c., &C. 

Special Agents for SPRAGUE GREEN CORN CUTTER. 



SEND FOR OUR 

LATEST and MOST COMPLETE CATALOGUE 

Ever Gotten Up of Canning House Machinery. 



38 CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 

if it could be kept down to much lower figures. It is for this 
reason that especial care has been taken in directing the attention 
of prospective canners to the necessity of either having money or 
being in a position where they can secure it until they have so 
established themselves that they can obtain advances" on their 
future pack from jobbers or others. 



CHAPTER IX. 

JVuitiber of Cans to a Bushel^ Etc. 

A most difficult thing to determine is the average number of 
cans that can be filled from a bushel of any article. Hardly any 
two canners agree as to all the vegetables and fruits they pack. 
Much depends on the condition of the article canned. The best 
results are, of course, obtained from fruits or vegetables that are 
firm and solid. Then some canners may be more wasteful than 
others, which will considerably affect the yield. Although the 
following table is based on statements received from a large num- 
ber of ca oners it is given with some misgivings owing to the fear 
that other canners may not produce exactly the same results. The 
figures that are given are as near the average yield as can be de- 
termined when an article best suited for canning is used : 

NUMBER OF CANS TO A BUSHEL, ETC. 
ARTICLE. 2-LB. 3-LB. 

Apples, 30 20 

Beans, Lima 45 30 

Beans, String 30 20 

Blackberries 50 33 

Corn 45 30 

Huckleberries 50 33 

Okra 35 23 

Peaches, Standard 25 18 

Peaches, Pie 35 23 

Pears 45..... 30 

Peas 16 — 

Plums 45 30 

Squashes 30 20 

Strawberries 45 30 

Sweet Potatoes 30 20 

Tomatoes 20 16 



CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 39 

The average yield per acre is another extremely difficult 
statement to give, so much depending on the farmer, his soil, 
climatic conditions, etc. The following figures are as reliable as 
can be secured : 

Corn, per acre, 40 bushels. 

Okra, " 175 " 

Peas, " 55 " 

String Beans, per acre, 100 bushels. 

Sweet Potatoes, " 130 " 

Tomatoes, " 300 '* 



CHAPTER X. 
Tlie Canning of Fruits. 

[See " What to Can and What to Pay For It," "Times of Exhausting and Pro- 
cessing," and "Standards of Canned Goods."] 

In the canning of fruits especial care must be taken for the pre- 
servation of the delicate flavors which are so elubive. Keeping 
quality always in view, using fresh supplies and paying strict at- 
tention to the details of the business, this can be accomplished 
and every can that goes out from the factory made an advertise- 
ment that will reflect credit upon its entire output and increase 
the number of its patrons. Each day's supply of fruits should be 
canned before the factory closes and none be carried over until 
another day to permit of softening and jjrobably partial decay 
ensuing. In order to do this it is necessary to avoid the delivery 
at the factory of a greater quantity than its capacity will permit 
of the disposing of within the limits of a working day. Knowing 
the amount that can be handled, notice can be served on those 
who are furnishing the sui)plies as to how much they shall bring 
in each day. This can be done without much inconvenience to 
anyone, and the factory will be saved the loss that might other- 
wise come to it from an accumulation of perishable supplies far 
beyond its ability to pack. 

The Operation. — In general, the canning operation may be 
described as follows: After the article is ready for canning, having 
gone through such of the operations of scalding, peeling, coring, 
etc., as may be necessary, it is packed in the cans according to 
the standard, of some articles the cans being filled as solidly as pos- 
sible, of others two-thirds filled', etc. Frequently most of this 



40 CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 

work can be done by machinery, that being the more rapid and 
less costly method. Special machines of various makes, for steam or 
foot power, can be bought at prices that will repay the packer for 
including them in his plant. After packing, the cans are generally 
filled with either syrup of a certain degree or of water, hot or cold, 
according to the process. These cans are wiped off" with a stiff 
brush, placed in trays and then passed to the capper, a man who 
places on the top center piece of tin, leaving a small exhaust or vent 
hole, except under certain conditions when exhausting or the driv- 
ing out of the air is not required in this way. Capping is also done 
either by hand or by machines. In large factories the capping 
machine is a necessity. Several patents are on the market, op- 
erated by steam or gasoline, and of various capacities. After 
leaving the capper's hands the cans are placed in a crate, one can 
deep, for the purpose of exhausting or driving out the air. This 
crate is placed in the exhaust kettle with 212 degrees of heat, 
and kept there a certain length of time varying with the fruit or 
vegetable. As soon as taken from the exhaust kettle the cans are 
tipped, that is, the vent hole is immediately soldered up. The cans 
are then placed in a test tub for testing in hot water (212 degrees). 
By the immersion of the cans into this water it is easily ascertained 
if the capping and tipping has been properly done, the presence 
of any holes being accurately determined by the bubbles that 
arise to the surface. In the South at present, skilled cap]3ers and 
tippers not being always obtainable, the testing of the cans in this 
manner is recommended. While there may be but a small propor- 
tion found that require attention the saving effected in this way, 
coupled with the absolute certainty felt that the cans have gone 
out in proper condition, repays for the extra time consumed. 
The cans are then ready for processing, or cooking. They 
go into another crate, two or three cans deep, ^nd are placed 
in the process kettle. There are two kinds of these kettles, open 
and closed. In the open bath, as it is termed, but 212 degrees of 
heat can be obtained; in the closed bath any required tempera- 
ture is possible, the processing in this being done at 240 degrees. 
The time the cans are kept in the process depends on the contents 
and is longer in the open than in the closed bath, as will be seen 
in the chajDter giving the time of exhausting and processing. This 
concludes the actual work of canning. The cans are then taken 
to the cooling tub, in which cold water is continuously flowing, 
and by immersion in it cooled sufficiently to permit of handling. 
The crate containing them is then placed on a truck and the cans 
taken to the labeling department. 

Peaches lead the list of canned fruits, and, as previously 
stated, will undoubtedly become the great canned product of the 



CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 41 

South. In a section where peach trees are bein^ set out by the 
hundreds of thousands every year, where they bear abundantly 
and where, after the Northern, Western and home markets have 
been supplied, there will be, within a few years, vast quantities 
undisposed of, the canning of them must soon occupy the atten- 
tion of growers. Southern peach growers will be forced into the 
canning business in self-defense, unless outsiders begin canning 
operations in the vicinity of their orchards on a scale sufficiently 
large to exhaust their surplus. That this is recognized now is 
proved by the recent establishment of several canneries in the heart 
of the peach district and the announcement that others will be soon 
located there. The demand for this luscious fruit in tin is only 
surpassed by the demand for it in the raw state. There is no 
canned fruit of which there is the same almost universal and very 
rapidly increasing consumption. Year after year its packing 
more and more engrosses the attention of those in the business 
who are so situated that they can obtain supplies of it, and South- 
ern canners can find nothing that will better repay them than 
this product of their factories. The more care they bestow upon 
the canning of peaches the greater will be their profits from them. 
By a wise use of the opportunity open to many of them it need 
be but a short time before Southern canned peaches will rule the 
markets. 

There are several qualities of peaches and the packer must 
exercise care in the selection of them. It pays better to give a 
good price for good stock than to secure poor stock at a lower cost. 
The difference in the price obtained for the different grades of 
canned peaches more than offsets the difference in the price of the 
fruit, and in the cost of handling the superior article. The peaches 
should be brought to the factory in bushel crates, so that they will 
not be bruised or mashed. They should not be too ripe. Firm, 
solid fruit, free of worms, should be insisted upon. They should 
be assorted by the grower, white and yellow peaches being kept 
apart as they are packed separately. Fruit of an exceptionally 
fine quality, packed in heavy syrup, is classed as "extra." The 
well-developed ripe peaches are carefully selected, peeled and 
packed in high syrup and offered as first or standard quality, 
commanding fine prices and bringing the canner excellent profits. 
Peaches of an inferior quality are packed in like manner and 
offered to the trade as seconds. All peaches that are too small to 
peel and otherwise unfit for marketing as first or second quality, 
are canned as pie peaches. These pie peaches are not peeled, but 
are pitted and halved. Peaches that are "full ripe" and a little 
soft must be peeled by hand, exhausted 3 minutes and processed 6 
minutes. With any longer process they may go to pieces. 



42 CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 

Peaches are canned in 2 and 3 lb. cans, the majority in the latter 
size. Rotary knives that peel peaches satisfactorily can be ob- 
tained at $15 per dozen. Small knives for this work by hand are 
catalogued at 11.50 per dozen. Peach pitting machines can also 
be bought (|6) which give good service. 

After the peaches have been peeled, halved and pitted, work 
which is rapidly done by girls, the cans are packed as full as pos- 
sible without damaging the fruit. The cans are then filled 
with hot or cold syrup, the latter being preferable, for table 
peaches and water for pie peaches. Dipping machines can be 
had for tliis purpose. The cans are then capped and placed in 
the exhaust crate. From the exhaust kettle they go to the tipper, 
who closes up the exhaust or vent, and they are then ready, after 
testing, for the processing crate and processing kettle, which 
completes the work so far as the canning is concerned. 

Apples are generally spoken of by Southern canners as a 
slow seller. Next to peaches more apples are probably now canned 
in the South than any other fruit. The experience of Southern 
canners with this fruit is not such as to justify any canner in 
handling them in large quantities if he is able to obtain other fruits 
and suitable vegetables. The rotary knife used in paring peaches 
will answer for the same purpose with apples, or, if it is desired 
to unite the three operations of paring, coring and slicing in one 
labor-saving machine, an apparatus for this work is on the mar- 
ket at the nominal price of $5 per dozen. Apples are put up in 
3-lb. and gallon cans as a rule. After peeling, coring and quar- 
tering the cans are filled with the fruit. If cold water is used the 
can is exhausted, but if hot water at the boiling point is used the 
cans are capped and tipped at once and passed over to the pro- 
cessor. 

Pears are another fruit now being extensively cultivated in 
the South. Every year finds the number of orchards of this fruit 
increased and old ones greatly enlarged. The area in which the 
tree will thrive does not seem to be limited, and the Southern 
pear crop, already large, promises to assume immense proportions 
soon. It is a fruit as easily canned as apples, and Southern can- 
ners report that they have had better success in marketing it and 
have found it more profitable than that fruit. Pears are gener- 
ally packed in 2-lb. cans. They are peeled, cored and quartered. 
The cans are filled. Syrup is used. They make a delicious des- 
sert, and the demand should increase steadily. 

Plums are another fruit that thrive in the South, The trees 
in this section bear an abundance of fruit. Canners will proba- 
bly find it profitable to pack fine fruit in moderate quantities. 
Plums have not been handled to any great extent by Southern 



CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 43 

Canning in _o> 
the South ^ 

You i?vill Save Money on Your 
Purchase of 

eANs 



BY ADDRESSING 



DANIEL G. TRENCH & CO. 



CANNING 
FACTORY 
OUTFITTERS, 



CHICAGO, ILL. 



44 CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 

canners. California has mainly supplied the markets with this 
fruit. The Southern canner ought to be able to compete with his 
Pacific coast competitor and find large profit in the article. It 
will be well to experiment with the fruit for a season or two until 
it is ascertained exactly what can be done with it. Put it up in 
2-lb. cans with syrup, using only the best fruit. 

Grapes are another fruit that is practically not canned at 
present in the South, and, in fact, to little extent anywhere out- 
tide of California. The South raises magnificent grapes now, and 
can probably grow any variety that is needed. Southern canners 
should experiment with them also. The best way to can grapes 
is furnished for "Canning in the South" by a South Carolina 
canner, who has put up small quantities that have received the 
highest praise. He says: Select only the finest quality, sweet, 
ripe and firmi. Fill the can with them, being careful not to bruise 
the fruit. Take the juice of other grapes, add sugar until syrup 
registers 10 degrees and fill up with this syrup. Practically all 
that is in the can is grapes and their own juice. Wash the 
grapes in cold water and see to it that they are free from any 
foreign substances. Pack in 2-lb. and 3-lb. cans. Grapes can also 
be packed in water, hot or cold. 

Another method of prei^aring grapes in cans that is recom- 
mended is as follows: Stew or boil the grapes until the skin is 
tender; then put them through a " cyclone" pulping machine, 
which will rid them of all the seed and hard skins, leaving the 
grape and juice. This can be sweetened to suit the taste and 
canned. Grapes prepared in this way make excellent pies. They 
only want introduction to become popular. The ' 'cyclone" ma- 
chine referred to is useful with other articles, reducing pumpkin, 
squashes, sweet potatoes, etc, to a fine pulp and leaving it entirely 
free from seed; it can also be used for reducing tomato skins to 
pulp. In this connection attention may also be directed to the 
fact that the skins of peaches, apples and pears can be handled in 
a similar way. After reducing them to pulp, sweeten and add a 
little flavoring, cinnamon or cloves, can and sell as apple, peach 
or pear sauce. This is excellent for pies and desserts and prevents 
what might otherwise be a waste. 

Clierries also grow well in certain parts of the South. Noth- 
ing can be done with them in the coast sections. Fruit that is 
almost ripe is used. The common or pie cherries should be pitted. 
Cherry seeders, hand power, can be had at |5 per dozen. South- 
ern canners will hardly engage in the canning of cherries on such 
a large scale as to require the expensive power machines capable 
of pitting 100 to 200 bushels a day. Choice white and yellow 
fruit for the table is not pitted. These cherries are packed whole 



CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 45 

with syrup. Factories in cherry growing [sections should pacli 
somewliat of them. 

Ouavas^ a fruit canned and made into an excellent jelly in 
the Bahamas, grows throughout South Florida. Canners in that 
State should pack this fruit in small quantities, as it is compara- 
tively unknown and must force its way into the markets. Put up 
in two and three pound cans, with syrup of 10 degrees or more. 
Guavas should be handled like peaches. Efforts to secure the 
time of processing failed. 

Pineapples have been purposely reserved for the last of the 
fruits. At present but a small amount of pineapples is canned in 
Florida, the only pineapple-growing State of the South. Every- 
thing, though, indicates a rapid expansion of this branch of the 
industry in that State. Northern packers, realizing the absurdity 
of having the factory a thousand miles away from the spot where 
the fruit is grown, are preparing to erect plants in South Florida 
for the especial purpose of canning this fruit, which, next to 
peaches, is the most delicious packed and one of which there must 
be an enormous consumption in the near future. It has only 
been within the past two or three years that much attention has 
been given to pineapple culture in Florida. Experiments having 
shown that the raising of the fruit on an extensive scale was im- 
mensely profitable, the acreage devoted to it has rapidly increased. 
Several factories have been put up for the canning of the fruit, 
and there is no reason why a score or more should not be estab- 
lished in that semi-tropical region. The canning of the fruit 
should keep abreast of the increase of the crop. 

Pineapples are canned in three ways— whole, sliced or grated. 
In the first method the rind is removed sufficiently to eliminate 
the eyes, and syrup of 10 to 15 degrees is used. The sliced is the 
most popular form. The rough rind is cut off* by girls. The 
pieces can then be passed through a machine which pares off suf- 
ficiently to remove the eyes and cores and slices at the same ope- 
ration. If an extra standard is not being sought for, the pieces 
after being pared sufficiently to remove the eyes can be sliced by 
machine and the core not removed. In either case syrup of about 
10 degrees is used. The very finest pineapples, eyeless and core- 
less, packed in 20 degrees of syrup, command fancy iprices. Pack 
mainly in 2-lb. and 3-lb. cans, with a few gallon cans. The grated 
pineapple is mainly packed in 1-lb. cans. Special graters, slicers, 
etc., are on the market. 

Berries. 

In the canning of berries the open bath process is preferable. 
Care must be exercised not to process into mushiness. With the 



46 CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 

closed bath process there is greater danger of this owing to the 
intense lieat, even with the difference in time. Do not pack 
heavily of any berry. While easily packed blackberries do not 
find a ready market, nor do the blue or huckleberries. Strawber- 
ries find the best demand of all, and give the best returns. Ber- 
ries in jams and jellies can be made a side branch of canning with 
ease. 

All berries are handled about alike. Care is taken to remove 
the caps and any leaves and dirt. This is rapidly done by girls 
who spread the berries out on tables, at the same time throwing 
aside those tbat are not firm. Blackberries and blue or huckle- 
berries are put up in 2-lb. cans, nearly full, with water. If hot 
there is no exhausting. With strawberries the cans, 2-lbs., are 
about two thirds filled with syrup of 10 or more degrees. No 
strawberries that are not of first-class quality should be canned. 

[N. B. — The prices given of machinery in this and succeed- 
ing chapter are those found in catalogues of manufacturers and 
supply houses. A good discount is frequently allowed for cash.] 



CHAPTER XI. 
Tlie Canning of Vegetables. 

[See chapters on "What to Can and What to Pay For It," " Time of Exhaust- 
ing and Processing," etc.] 

The canning of vegetables is on the pame lines as the canning 
of fruits. The same injunctions as to the packing of fresh sup- 
plies of good quality and the constant endeavoring to put up 
goods equal to the best grades packed elsewhere likewise hold 
good. The use of improved machinery, cheapening the cost per 
can through increasing the amount of work that can be done by 
a limited number of employes, is recommended. ^Southern can- 
neries should endeavor to profit by the experience of canners in 
other sections of the country, and, sufficient money being at 
hand, begin as nearly as possible on the plane where they now are. 

Tomatoes are the leaders in canned vegetables. They are 
one article that can be packed heavily without fear. Tomatoes 
require a good, rich soil, can be easily grown, yield abundantly, 
and are one of the best paying crops the farmer can raise for the 
canning factory. They are contracted for by the bushel or ton — in 



CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 



47 



the South generally by the bushel, being gathered in crates and 
delivered at the factory in them. From the crates they are placed 
in scalding baskets of galvanized iron and wire, costing about $24 
per dozen, and dipped in tubs or troughs containing hot water. In 
two or three minutes they are in a condition in which the skin 
can be easily removed. The scalding baskets are then carried to 
the peeling tables and the tomatoes dumped upon them. An ex- 
cellent table for this purpose, as is stated in a previous chapter, is 
made with a slight slant from each side toward an opening at the 
center with a trough under it to carry off the water, thus protect- 
ing the persons of the peelers. The skins are saved, in well-con- 
ducted factories, to be boiled up for the making of ketchup. The 
tomatoes are peeled by hand with knives. 

[There are improved scalders to be had, perforated receptacles, 
of several sizes. Each style is pivoted over the tank containing 
hot water into which it can be lowered and raised at will to an 
incline sufficient to dump the tomatoes out into buckets. The 
prices of apparatus of this character range, according to size, from 
§90 up. In small Southern factories the hand method of scaldino- 
referred to above is generally in use.] 

From the peeling tables the tomatoes go to the packing table, 
or to the can-filling machine, where the cans are filled full with 
them. The tomatoes should be packed as whole as possible. This 
is either done by haiul, girls being employed for the work, or, as 

indicated, by a machine 
operated either by foot 
or steam power, of which 
the accompanying illus- 
tration will give an ex- 
cellent idea. A ma- 
chine will fill about 10,- 
000 cans a day, operated 
by foot power, and re- 
quires a man. A woman 
can pack 1,000 to 1,500 
cans by hand. A ma- 
chine of this character, 
foot power, costs $75. 

After being filled, 
there are two methods 
open to the canner. 
^^ That generally followed 
in the South is to pass 
the cans to the capper 
A CAN-FILLING MACHINE. and have them capped 




48 CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 

but not tipped. From the capper they go to the exhaust kettle 
and from the exhaust to the tipper and then to the process 
kettle, the time the can is kept in each being given in the table in 
Chapter XII. The other method is not known to Southern can- 
iiers, as a rule, and it is due more to this fact than anything else 
that it has not been to some extent adopted. Following it, the 
cans after being filled are both capped and tipped and the ex- 
haust entirely dispensed with, the cans being sent directly to the 
process kettle. This permits of much more rapid work, one man 
doing the capping and tipping of the cold cans very quickly. In 
response to a letter, Mr. J. E. Diament, of Cedarville, New Jer- 
sey, a packer of long experience, writes as follows: 

"I have been in the tomato i^acking business for thirteen 
years, and in all that period never exhausted my goods. It takes 
a. stronger can to put tomatoes up in without exhausting. I pro- 
cess my goods forty-five minutes as a rule, and never less than 
forty minutes." 

As Mr. Diament packs from 750,000 to 1,000,000 cans of toma- 
toes a season, his letter is certainly worthy of consideration. The 
open process kettle should be used with this time. Many packers 
contend that the system of both exhausting and processing is 
safer. Southern canners will do well to at least experiment with 
the latter method, keeping some cans packed in this way to be 
examined subsequently, and the relative merits of the two meth- 
ods determined as indicated by the quality of the tomatoes when 
turned out of the cans. 

There are also what are known as "continuous process ma- 
chines" on the market in which the cans are carried along on 
endless chains through patent exhaust and process kettles ; the 
speed at which they move being regulated at pleasure to suic the 
contents. These machines vary in cost according to capacity, one 
with a capacity of 5,000 cans daily being catalogued at $800. 

Com IS next to tomatoes the canned vegetable most in 
demand. The margin of profit is small, and to make much money 
packing it it should be handled on quite a large scale and proper 
machinery used. Only sugar corn, a good, tender article, is used. 
The corn is "shucked" or "husked" by boys and girls. South- 
ern canners pay 1 cent per dozen ears, or 3 cents per bushel in the 
husk, for this work. The defective ears should be thrown out. 
The corn must then be cut from the ear. While this can be done 
by hand it is done more expeditiously, more satisfactorily and 
cheaper by one of the improved cutters, which remove the ker- 
nels whole close to the cob, or otherwise as may be desired. There 
are several of these machines on the market. A hand power cut- 
ter can be obtained for $90 ; the power machines are $200 and 



CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 



49 





I 



35 Congress Street, Room 31, 

BOSTON. - - - MASS. 
Machines for the Manufacture of TIN CANS, 

VIZ: 

Sleeper Side Seaming Machines, 
Sleeper Heading Machines, 
Sleeper Rolling Mills. 

Also have in process of construction Machines for Floating 
and Testing the Cans, which are expected to be ready for the 
business of 1894, thus completing the series of machines and in- 
suring a product of 1300 to 1600 cans per hour, and employing 
one young man and four or five boys or girls only to attend to 
them. 

Address— 

SLEEPER MACHINE CO., 
35 Congress St., Room 31, BOSTON, MASS. 



50 CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 

upwards. After being cut from the cob the corn is poured into a 
corn silking machine, which separates the silk and pieces cf cob 
from the cut corn. A machine of this character can be bought 
for $50. If the corn is being packed according to the "moist 
pack" method, the kernels of corn are cut whole from the cob 
and after the silk, etc., is separated from them are packed into 
2-lb. cans. The standard provides that a can shall cut out full of 
corn. If young corn is being used the cans must be packed more 
solidly than if older corn is the material packed. The danger in 
canning corn lies in packing the cans so solidly that they will 
be unable to stand the strain, or in improper processing result- 
ing in a few days in the corn becoming sour, the resulting gases 
causing the cans to either burst or swell. The can is next filled 
with brine, a dipping machine costing from $50 up, according to 
capacity, being used for this purpose, wiped, capped, exhausted, 
tipped and processed. 

If corn is to be "dry packed," the kernels are cut from the cob 
toabout ha f their depth, the remainderof thegrain beingscraped 
by the knives, making a pulp. The silk, etc., is removed from 
the kernels as in the first method, and the corn — kernels and 
pulp— is poured into the hopiDer of a self- feeding corn cooker, a 
machine costing about $350. In this machine the corn passes 
through a shaft in which it is cooked by steam, at the end pass- 
ing directly into the cans, which are automatically removed when 
filled. Tlie cans are at once capped and tipped and then pro- 
cessed as in the other method. More corn is required in the "dry" 
than in the "moist" pack, half of it being pulp, and it naturally 
filling in more solidly. The "dry" is the more expensive method, 
and through its requiring costly apparatus is little used in the 
South at present. Southern canners should secure tender, sweet 
corn or not pack it at all. They should provide themselves with 
the improved cutters and silkers and should exercise the greatest 
care throughout. Corn of excellent quality is packed so exten- 
sively in the East and West and sold so cheaply that the public 
has long since become accustomed to a good article, and is quick 
to distinguish an inferior one and discriminate against it. As in 
other canned products, the very best canned corn returns the 
largest jorofits. For canning small quantities of corn, the rule at 
present in the South, corn-cutting knives can be bought for a 
small sum and the grain removed by hand after the silk has been 
removed by stiflT brushes, also of insignificant value. This is 
only possible, cf course, with the "moist pack." 

Peas are another good paying feature of the output of the 
canning factory, but, like corn, to be handled in any large quan- 
tity they require special and very expensive machinery to pro- 



CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 



51 



ATTENTION CANNERS! 
THE CLARK 




For heating Soldering Irons, Capping Machines, Floaters, Solder Baths, 
Tinware Manufacturing Machinery, Etc. It will be to your interest to con- 
sider and investigate this superior system before adopting any other for the 
purpose. Its economy alone over any other system will pay for the outfit 
in one season. Write for illustrated catalogue that will explain its many 
merits. 

THE CLARK NOVELTY CO., Rochester, N. Y. 



G. A. CROSBY & CO., Western and Southern Agents. 

San Francisco, Cal. 
Pacific Coast Agents. 



F. A. ROBBINS' PRESS WORKS, 



AGENTS FOR THE 

ACME AUTOMATIC 
OIL ENGINES. 



52 CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 

duce satisfactory results. The peas are first hulled or shelled. A 
machine having the capacity to hull sufficient ''Early Junes" to 
fill about 7,500 cans a day will cost about SjI, 500. Working "mar- 
rowfats," sufficient will be hulled for twice as many cans. 
Throughout, the packing of peas is a fascinating business, this 
and the other aj^paratus being marvels of ingenuity in the work 
they accomplish. From the liuller the peas are taken to the sepa- 
rator, which assorts them into the several sizes at the same time 
freeing them from foreign matter. Of these machines there are 
several on the market ranging in price from $200 up to $500 or 
more. A very acceptable separator can be secured at the mini- 
mum figure. The black eyes and yellow peas should then be 
removed. A blancher is next brought into service, a perforated 
receptacle of light galvanized iron holding about a bushel, with 
handles by means of which it is dipped into scalding water until 
the skins show signs of contracting. These blanchers cost but 
$2.50 each. The blanching completes the handling of peas in so 
far as it differs from that of other vegetables. Two-pound cans 
are then filled within about two-thirds of an inch of the brim 
with them, dipped in hot brine, wiped, capped and so on. 

Few Southern factories are at present equipped for doing 
much with peas, and it is hardly iDrobable that many will be for 
some time to come. It has not been the intention in citing these 
facts to dissuade Southern canners from packing peas at all. Far 
from it. They can be hulled by hand, boys 'and girls doing the 
work, and then separated in three or more grades, as desired, by 
the use of sieves, working over boxes, costing but little money and 
made at home if desired. Wire for the separating of the peas in 
this way can be bought from any dealer. In this way the cost of 
the appEiratus is reduced to an insignificant figure. For putting 
up small quantities good results can be achieved in this crude 
fashion. Grade the peas according to size as carefully as possible. 
There is money in peas, and when they can be obtained in suffi- 
ciently large quantities it will prove a profitable outlay to provide 
the special machinery referred to. 

^Strin^ Beans are becoming more sought after and are ex- 
pected to become a leading article in the canning line. The 
strings are removed by boys and girls, old, tough beans being 
thrown out. The long beans should be broken in half. This 
work should be done as the stringing proceeds. They are then 
blanched, in a manner similar to peas, etc., and the 
cans, 2-lbs., packed with them, brine being added. If 
cold brine is added the cans after being capped are ex- 
hausted. If brine of 212° is used they are capped and tipped at once 



CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 



53 



irs 



cc 
111 
tr 

< 

Q. 

I 
O 
< 



UJ 

I 




H 

X 

m 

CD 

m 
0) 

> 
13 
"D 

|- 

m 

> 
m 



Patented Sept. 21, 1880— April 4 and 18, 1882. 



The Rotary Knife is the only machine ever made that will pare peaches 
perfectly, rapidly and satisfactorily, and will pare soft, iineven or bruised 
fruit. 

As it is the only machine that successfully does tlie work, it is without a 
rival. It has been remodeled, improved, and strengthened, and is all we 
claim for it— Perfection. 

MANUFACTURED BY 

SINCLAIR-SCOTT MFG. CO., 

BALTIMORE, MD. 



54 CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 

and sent to the process kettle. In regard to brine, it may be well 
to state that what is naeant is water in which just enough salt has 
been dissolved to give it a distinctly salty taste. LIMA beans, as 
far as can be ascertained, are not handled in the feouth. Not one 
of the numerous canners written to had packed them in this 
section, although several had done so in the North. Use tender 
beans. After shelling, work for boys and girls, pack the cans, 
2-Ibs., add the brine and proceed as with other vegetables. 

Okra^ as has been stated before, is one vesretable of which 
Southern c mners must be careful. Do not pack heavily of it un- 
der existing circumstances. It may gradually force its way to 
the recognition it deserves in the North and West, but the' fact 
that it has not yet done so to any extent reduces the demand for 
it to a limited area. Use only the tender okra, which should be 
blanched from 10 to 15 minutes. Pack in brine in 2-lb. cans. 

Okra and Tomatoes are a pleasing combination gradu- 
ally coming into demand. It makes an admirable soup and must 
force its way to the front. Once it is introduced it will make 
rapid headway on its merits. Pack lightly, though, for the pres- 
ent. The okra should be blanched and chopped up somewhat. 
Put one-fourth okra and three- fourths tomatoes into the cans — 2's 
and 3's. Cap and proceed as usual. 

Succotasli, in the Northern significance, is a union of green 
corn and lima beans, about two-thirds of the former to one-third 
of the latter, put up in brine and processed as corn. Some South- 
ern canners have another succotash, a combination that is, if any- 
thing, more pleasing to the palate. It is corn, lima beans, okra 
and tomatoes, in about even quantities, making a fine soup. Pack 
lightly of each, designating difference on labels. No brine is 
used with the latter, and it is processed about the same time as 
corn. Whenever corn and beans are used, owing to their swell- 
ing while cooking, allow a space of from one-half to two-thirds of 
an inch in cans in packing. 

Siveet Potatoes, or as th^yare sometimes called, yams, 
yield abundantly in the South, and will be handled extensively 
by Southern canners. They are blanched until the skin cracks ; 
then taken on forks and peeled, sliced and quartered. Nothing 
is put in the cans — 3's and gallons — with them, and do not sink 
them deep enough in the exhaust kettle tf> allow the water to flow 
into the cans. Potatoes grown in Georgia and some other South- 
ern States are especially full of saccharine, and make fine pies. 
Southern canned sweet potatoes are expected to meet with high 
favor in other sections of the country as well as at home. Pack 
them in moderate quantities for a year or two until this demand 
can be better gauged than at present. 



CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 55 

Asparag'us is now beiD^ raised on a large scale on the sea 
islands of South Carolina and the primary success has been so 
great that its culture must soDn spread all along the coast. Fancy 
prices are obtained for it in the Northern markets in the early 
sea-oti. After the North 3rn asparagus comes in competition and 
the profits are greatly reduced the canning of it will be in order. 
Packing in the latter part of the season special care should be ex- 
ercised not to can the old stalks which are tough and stringy. 
Brine is used as in beans The 3-lb cans are mainly used. 

Squaslie§ are packed to a limited extent by canners in Ten- 
nessee and one or two other States. The packing of much more 
than what may be required for the local demand cannot be recom- 
mended. Fine squasnes are raised, or can be raised, in practi- 
cally all parts of the South. JJae the tender squashes, peel, slice 
and then mash into pulp. If packed largely machines can be 
obtained to do this work costing $150 and upwards. It can be 
packed by hand, or if a tomato filling machine is in the factory 
it will do the work effectively. Nothing is added to the cans, 
3-1 bs,, which are packed full, capped, exhausted, etc. 

Oysters, riams, Terrapin, etc. At Savannah, Bruns- 
wick, Fernandina, Apalachicola, Mobile, Corpus Christi, and 



FRUIT and VEGETABLE LABELS 

Lithographed or Printed. In Stock, or Special Designs to Order. 

Tobacco and Cotton Plaid Labels 

A SPECIALTY. 

Send for SAMPLES AND ESTIMATES. 

Office, 109 East Baltimore Street, 

. . . BALTIMORK, MD. 



56 CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 

other points on the Atlantic and Gulf shores of the South, can- 
ning factories are found devoted especially to the packing of 
oysters, clams, terrapin, etc., of which there is an abundant sup- 
ply generally to be had. These factories must soon be supple- 
mented by many others in the same line. Men thoroughly 
acquainted with the situation look to the South as the future 
great source of supply of canned oysters ; the bivalve flourishes 
best in the waters of this section. Several Southern states have 
adopted laws regulating the taking of oysters and others will 
soon follow suit. Natural beds are being protected and every en- 
couragement being given to the establishment of artificial ones. 
Coast surveys have demonstrated that there are immense areas 
of Southern waters where enormous quantities of oysters of good 
quality can be cultivated. It is not the intention here to go into 
the details of this branch of the canning business. More capital 
is required for it to be successfully carried on than in the other 
lines. The oyster canning factory should be located on the water 
front and as near the beds as possible. The oysters are lifted from 
the barge, or whatever vessel they are brought to the factory in, 
dumped into small cars which are run over tracks into steaming 
chests where they remain until the shells are open. The oysters 
are then taken to the shuckers who are paid by the bucket or 
gallon After being shucked and weighed, they are washed in 
running cold water and packed. There are several sizes of cans 
used, the standards being 5 and 10 and 6 and 12 ounces. Brine 
containing about 3 per cent, of salt is used and the cans put 
through the usual course of wiping, capping, exhausting, etc. 
Clams are handled in a similar manner, but 1-lb., 2-lb., and 3-lb. 
cans are used. Terrapin is cooked until more than half done and 
then put through the customary process. Fish are cleaned as if 
for the table, being washed thoroughly. They are cooked until 
more than half done, packed solidly in cans, brine added, wiped, 
capped, etc. The bones are removed as much as possible. The 
exhaust is the same as with fruits and vegetables. Jbish are pro- 
cessed about 20 minutes. They are generally canned in 1-lb. and 
2-\b. cans. There is apparently no good reason why many of the 
numerous varieties of fish found in Southern waters should not 
be extensively used for canning. Experiments should be made 
with all varieties that offer the slightest inducement. There 
must be many of the more than 200 varieties of fish suitable for 
food found in this section that can be canned successfully and a. 
demand created for in that convenient form. Southern fish should 
become an established article of canned food in the various mar« 
kets of the country. 



CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 



57 



DANIEL G. TRENCH & CO., 

CHICAGO, 
Canning Factory Outfitters. 




THE BAKEHL STEAM BOXES 
are the best Steam Boxes made. They outclass any- 
thing of the kind made elsewhere in the country. 

They are made in two sizes. 

Full detailed description, prices and testimonials 
sent on application. 



5S CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 

CHAPTER XII. 
Tlie Time of Exbaustin^ and Processing. 

The time of exhausting and jDrocessing opens up a fertile field 
for discussion. Through the assistance of Southern canners whose 
goods have earned a reputation for quality, and from other sources 
of information, the following table was prepared. It will be 
found of continuous value to canners. The advice of experienced 
processors is against the use of the closed bath process for berries 
or for fruits that are soft, the heat being too great, and it being an 
easy matter to overcook and make the fruit liable to go to pieces 
in the can, a matter that has caused some complaint from jobbers 
heretofore. 

The closed bath process is not absolutely necessary, except for 
corn, clams, oysters and succotash, although it gives quicker and 
better results with some other articles. The great majority of 
canned goods can be processed in the open kettle, but it is advisa- 
ble to have a closed one in addition, if possible. The information 
contained in the chapters on the canning of fruits and vegetables 
gives about all else that it is necessary to say on this subject. 

Time of Exliaust and Process. 

EXHAUST AT 

ARTICLE. 212 dej^rees. 

Minutes: 

Apples 3 

Asparagus 10 

Beans, Lima 10 

Beans, String 10 

Blackberries 3 

Cherries 7 

Clams— I's 10 

Clams-2's 10 

Corn 10 

Grapes 15 

Huckleberries 5 

Okra 10 

Okra and Tomatoes 10 

^Oysters— 6 oz 10 

Oysters— 12 oz 10 

Peaches 5 



OPEN BATH 


CLOSED BATH 


PROCESS 


PROCESS 


212 degrees. 


240 degrees. 


Minutes: 


Minutes: 


15 


3 


45 


30 


— 


35 


45 


30 


7 


3 


12 


4 





20 





25 





40 


11 


4 


7 


3 


35 


20 


35 


20 





16 


— 


20 


10 


4 



*Five and ten ounce oysters are two minutes less on process res 33Cti7dl5' 



CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 



59 



DANIEL G. TRENCH & CO 

CHICAGO, 
Canning^ Factory Outfitters. 




THE BAKER HOLLOW STEEL TIPPING TOOL 

THIS IS A GEM. 

Once seen In operation j^ou would not be without it at double its cost. 
Send for Description, Price, Etc. 



60 CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 



EXHAUST AT ^^^^ ^"^"^^ CLOSED BATH 
OlOdPe-rPPS PROCESS PROCESS 

ARTICLE. -Miniftes 212 degrees. 240 degrees, 

iviinutefe . Minutes : Minutes : 

Pears 5 12 5 

Peas 10 — 20 

Pineapples 10 20 8 

Plums 5 12 5 

Pumpkins 10 40 15 

Squaslies 10 35 15 

Strawberries. 3 6 2 

Succotash 10 — 40 

Sweet Potatoes 5 15 5 

Tomatoes 10 80 20 

[In case exhausting is dispensed with, increase time of pro- 
cess by about one-fourth. As mentioned in the article on tomato 
canning, most canners seem to regard the method by which the 
cans are exhausted as the most reliable.] 



CHAPTER Xlir. 
standards of Canned Goods. 

The following have been accepted as the standards by reput- 
able packers throughout the country. Southern canners must 
observe them. 

Aj^plfs. — Pared and cored, clear in color, cans to be full of 
fruit, put up in water. 

BlaQkberries. — Cans to cut out not less than two-thirds full 
after draining; fruit to be sound, put up in water. 

Cherries. — White Wax. Cans to be mil of fruit, free of specks 
and decay, put up in not less than ten degrees of cold cane 
sugar syrup. 

Cherries. — Red. Cans full of fruit, free of specks or decay, 
put up in water. 

Gooseberries. — Cans to be cut out not less than two-thirds 
full after draining, fruit unripe and uncapped, put up in water. 

Grapes. — Can^ full, fruit free from decay and put up in cold 
Avater. 

Egg Plurals and Green Gages. — Cans full, whole fruit, free 
from reddish color or specks, put up in not less than ten de- 
grees of cold cane sugar syiup. 

Peaches. — Cans full, fruit good size, evenly pared, cut in half 
pieces, put up in not le-s than ten degrees of cold cane sugar syrup. 



CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 



6t 



DANIEL G. TRENCH & CO., 

CHICAGO, 
Cannings Factory Outfitters.. 




THE BAKER SINGLE STEEL CAPPING MACHINE. 

(HOLLOW STEEL— HEAT INSIDE.) 
This is one of the latest and best devices in the line of canning machin- 
ery and has sold this season like hot cakes. 



62 CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 

Pie Peaches. — Cans full, fruit sound, unpared, cut in half 
pieces, put up in water. 

Pears.— Bartlett. Cans full, fruit white and clear, pared, 
cut in half or quarter pieoes, put up iu not less than ten de- 
grees of cold cane sugar syrup. 

Pears. — Bell or Duchess. Cans full, fruit pared, cut in half 
or quarter pieces, put up in not less than ten degrees of cold 
cane sugar syrup. 

Pine Apples. — Cans full, fruit sound and carefully pared, 
slices laid in evenly, put up in not less than ten degrees of cold 
caue sugar syrup. 

Plums and Damsons. — Cans full, sound fruit, put up in water. 

Quinces.— Cans full, fruit pared and cored, cut in half or 
quarter pieces, put up in not less than ten degrees of cold cane 
sugar syrup. 

Paspberrie.'i. — Cans to cut out not less than two-thirds fall 
after draining, fruit to be sound, put up in not less than ten 
degrees of cold cane sugar syrup. 

Strawberries. — Cans to cut out after draining not less than 
half full of fruit, which shall be sound and not of the varieties 
known as seedlings, put up in not less than ten degrees of cold 
cane sugar syrup. 

Whortlebe7'ries. — C'dus full, fruit to be sound, put up in water. 

VEGiETABLES. 

Aspa?'agus.—Csins full of young and tender asparagus, liquor 
clear. 

Lima Beans. — Cans full of green beans, clear liquor. 

String Beans. — Cans full, beans young and tender and care- 
fully strung, packed during growing season. 

Corn. — Sweet corn only to be used, cut from the cob while 
young and tender, cans to cut out full of corn. 

Okra. — Cans full of young, tender okra, with clear liquor. 

Peas. — Cans full of young and tender peas, free of yellow or 
black eyes, liquor clear. 

Pumpkin. — To be solid packed as possible, free from lumps 
and of good color. 

Sweet Potatoes. — Cans full, dry packed. 

Succotash — Cans to be full of green corn and green lima 
beans. 

Tomatoes.— Cans to be reasonably solid, of gooi ripe fruit, 
packed cold. 

Ogsters.— To cut out not less than five ounces for No. 1 and 
ten ounces for No. 2 cans, of dry meat after liquor is drained off. 
To be good size and bright color. 



CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 



63 



DANIEL G. TRENCH & CO,, 

CHICAaO, 
Cannins^ Factory Outfitters. 





Can Tongs, 

Capping Steels, 

Coppers, 

And all Canners Sundries 
kept in stock and orders 
filled promptly at lowest 
prices. 



64 CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

The MarReting of Canned Goods. 

The Southern canner should, first of all, cultivate the home 
market. Drive canned j^oods from the North and West out of the 
South and this section will be saved many hundreds of thousands 
of dollars every year. The great trouble with the South to-day is 
that so much money is sent out of it for articles that could be 
easily produced at home. This constant draining of money from 
the South steadily impoverishes it. 

Endeavor then to market your output in the South. Supply 
the town in or near which your factory is situated. Then visit 
the nearby towns and introduce your goods there. If they are 
of good quality there should not be great trouble experienced in 
inducing merchants to handle them. One South Carolina com- 
pany of young men adopted a method which, while it is not 
commended, was efTective in bringing store keepers to see that a 
home industry should be supported. They had put up an excel- 
lent quality of several vegetables but found the retail grocers un- 
willing to handle them. Undaunted, they started on a personal 
oanvass of the town and ofTered their goods to the consumers at a 
slight advance over the regular wholesalers' prices at which they 
had oflered to sell to the retailers. They were not long in securing 
a large list of orders for goods to be delivered at stated periods 
during the year. The merchants, finding that if they were not 
inclined to support an industry that was doing its share to build 
up the town the people were, soon came to terms, and there was 
subsequently no reason to complain of a lack of a local market 
for at least a portion of the output. 

Such a course is not to be commended except under unusual 
circumstances. As a rule the merchant will be found willing 
enough to assist in making a success of an industry whose ten- 
dency is to increase the prosperity of his community. It is not 
the province of canners to retail goods. Their business should be, 
whenever possible, with the wholesaler or the broker. If there 
are no wholesalers in their vicinity, and their pack is so small 
that the retailers of a few small towns may be able to handle it 
all, then they are justified in dealing directly with them. Job- 
bers are very properly jealous of infringements on their territory. 
They are not apt to regard with favor sales direct to retailers on 
the part of the canners ; and if the latter desire to do business 
with the jobbers and sell their pack ofF in large lots, they had 
better confine their transactions to them and the brokers. Es- 
pecially is this course advisable if the factory is situated near 



CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 



65 



DANIEL G. TRENCH & CO , 

CHICAGO, 
Canning^ Factory Outfitters. 




THE CANADIAN CAPPING MACHINE. 

CAPACITY 15,000 CANS PER DAY. 

THE CHEAPEST AND BEST POWER CAPPER 
FOR ITS CAPACITY ON THE MARKET. 



SIMPLE, DURABLE, and needs no exi^erienced machinisfc 
to take care of it. 

Send for detailed description and testimonials. 



66 CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 

a large distributing point. There may be canneries located so far 
from jobbing centers that the freight rates effectually preclude 
them from shipping to wholesale liousts there. Under such cir- 
cumstances there is no recourse but to vigorously drum up trade 
in the territory about the factory. 

Every year the South is becoming a heavier consumer of 
canned goods. This is not so much due to the increase of popu- 
lation as to the more general introduction of this class of food. 
Not only in the cities, towns and villages, but on the farms con- 
sumers are found. Canners, whose self-interest has taught them 
to study the sources of demand, report that the farming classes 
are consuming a vastly greater proportion of canned goods than 
a few years ago, and that with a return of prosperity to the agri- 
culturists of the South, the consumption among that class will be 
rapidly increased. The Southern people in towns are heavy 
buyers of canned goods. Practically all of this demand should 
be supplied by Southern canners. At present it is not. In 
almost any store the greater number of cans will be found bear- 
ing labels of Northern and Western packers ; to some extent this 
has been due to a distrust of Southern canned goods — a natural 
fear of a new industry. This feeling has been largely driven out. 
It still txists but every year approaches nearer to annihilation. 
Southern canners have proved that they can pack goods equal in 
quality to those from other sections. Once the public learns that 
the victory is won, and the era of the Northern and Western 
canned goods in the South is at an end. This is one reason why 
such emphasis has been laid on the injunction to Southern can- 
ners to subordinate quantity to quality. 

In the larger markets of the South merchandise brokers are 
to be found who will sell canned goods on samples for a small 
commission. Jobbers also buy direct on samples. Southern can- 
ners must expect to meet the prices of Northern and Western 
canners. Business men cannot be governed largely by sentiment. 
It is too frequently a question of close profits with them. Be fair 
in all dealings with the jobbers ; have your goods just what you 
represent them to be, and once a foothold is obtained, it need 
never be lost. 

Southern canners of oysters, terrapin, etc., have shipped ex- 
tensively to Western and Northern markets and found a ready 
sale. Canners of pineapples will soon do likewise. Large can- 
ners of vegetables and fruits have also successfully invaded the 
markets of those sections. But the small canner cannot expect 
to do this ; to him the South is the natural market. Here he 
should seek to sell his output, and here, if it is of a quality that 
justifies Southern people in buying, he will dispose of it at a good 



CANNIXG IN THE SOUTH. 



67 



DANIEL G- TRENCH & CO., 

CHICAGO, 
Canning; Factory Outfitters. 




BAKER'S HORIZONTAL KETTLE 

(Fitted for Water and Steam). 

We can also furnish tliis Kettle for dry steam only. 

The Horizontal Kettle has many points of advantage over the 

Upright Kettle. 

Fall particulars^ prices and testimonials on application. 

(See Battery of Kettles on another page of this book). 




68 CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 

profit. As his output increases he can, if he desh^es, seek mar- 
kets elsewhere in the United States and outside of this country. 
A few Southern canners are now shipping to Central America. 
The trade there is not lar^e but it is hoped that the coming years 
will find a heavy demand for the products of Southern canneries 
there, in Mexico, and in the countries of South America. 

Labels : In addition to putting up a 
fine article Southern canners must present 
their goods in an attractive shape. The 
, eye must be appealed to. A slovenly look- 
'ing article is not likely to quickly find its 
way into public favor. In their first pur- 
chases, at least, customers are likely to 
some extent to be led by sight. Hence the 
importance of artistic labels carefully and 
cleanly put on. 

Southern canners must also learn the 
value of brands, or trade marks, for their 

goods. Some have already done so, but 

the majority pay no attention to the establishment of a brand in 
public favor through its excellence. Those who put up a really 
superior article will appreciate the value at once of having it 
so designated that it will not be confused with others. Knowing 
that their output is fine in quality they should not fail to secure 
the advantages that are the result of the public's appreciation 
of a good article of food. To do this there must be some individ- 
uality about their canned goods, some characteristic that will 
cling to the memory of purchasers and render it an easy matter 
for them to call for the same goods in making subsequent pur- 
chases. Nothing will do this better than an attractive name, 
backed up by an attractive picture. It may cost a little more in 
the beginning to have an especial label lithographed, but it will 
be found profitable in the long run to do so, especially with the 
larger factories, whose output will be scattered over a wide area. 
Smaller factories, whose output will be marketed near home, can 
order stock labels merely having the name of the factory 
printed on them in bold type. There are several large concerns 
that are devoted especially to labels and from any of them satis- 
factory work can be obtained. Frequently a wholesale house will 
contract for a large number of cases (2 dozen to case), having 
labels bearing its name placed on the cans instead of the regular 
canner's labels. 



CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 



69 



DANIEL G. TRENCH & CO 

CHICAGO, 
Cannins^ Factory Outfitters. 



THE 




RANNEY 

GAS 
Machine. 



This machine furnishes Gas for illuminating and for use in fire 
pots from the same pipe, and is a safer, more economical and 
better system for use in Canning Factories or Can Shops than 
Kerosene or Gasoline. 

Send for detailed information and testimonials. 



70 CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 

CHAPTER XV. 
Dra^Tbacks to Canning in tlie Soutli. 

Among the letters that have been received and made use of 
in the preparation of this compendium, many from the oldest 
canners in the South, the pioneers of the industry in this section, 
not one has been marked by other than a most hopeful feeling as 
to the future. All seem to believe that the difficulties hereafter 
will be less in number and easier to overcome than those that had 
to be met and struggled against in the past. In answering the 
request for a statement as to what they considered the chief obsta- 
cles to the expansion of the industry in the South at present, al- 
most every one has added a few lines to the effect that in his 
opinion the South is bound to become the great canning section 
of the world and that the obstacles at present existing can be 
overcome by the adoption of proper methods and the organization 
of Southern canners into a strong, compact body working for the 
common interest. 

The same replies came from all directions. But three obsta- 
cles were pointed out. They were — 

Inadequate capital. 

Inability to obtain sufficient supplies. 

Excessive freight rates both ways — on the empty cans coming 
to the factories, on the filled ones going out from them. 

The first of these has already been referred to. The fact that 
a canning factory cannot be started and operated on hardly suffi- 
cient money to j^ut in the smallest plant is now better realized 
than it was a few years ago. More canning companies are being 
organized and fewer individuals are attempting to establish fac- 
tories of their own, as a result. The companies, too, are providing 
more capital than heretofore, amounts from $2,500 up to $10,000 
or more. Canneries started in the past year have been, as a rule, 
on a larger scale. The future will see new concerns providing 
plants with much greater capacities than are now the rule in the 
South. The obstacle of inadequate capital will work its own 
cure. As the factories now in the South with sufticient capital 
to give them an opportunity to operate properly prove good pay- 
ing investments, an inclination on the part of the public to invest 
more freely in these enterprises will become apparent. The 
manner in which cotton mills, with capital invested ranging 
from $25,000 up to $500,000, have gone up all over the South shows 
that there is adequate capital in this section for any industry that 
demonstrates its ability to give a good return to those placing 
their money in it. While there will be numerous small canneries 



CANNING -IN THE SOUTH. 



DANIEL G. TRENCH & CO., 

CHICAGO, 
Canning Factory Outfitters. 




BAKER'S UPRIGHT KETTLES AND TRAVELLING HOIST. 



We furnish Kettles of all kinds— Horizontal and Upright. OPEN VATS, &c. 
^©'•Complete Catalogue on Appl,ication.==Sj§i 



72 CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 

scattered through the South, the tendency now seems to be^ 
whenever it is possible to place sufficient stock, to build and 
equip factories of more pretentious proportions. These large con- 
cerns will be of great assistance to the smaller factories, as the 
presence of a number of them will eventually induce the manu- 
facture of cans at several points in the South, lead to the forcing 
down of freight rates, and to the more general introduction of 
canned goods in Mexico, the Central American States and the 
countries of South America, w^th which the South should, and 
will, have more extensive trade relations year after year. 

As to the inability to obtain supplies, that has been overcome 
without great difficulty w^hen canners have shown farmers that 
they really mean business, that they have the money to pay for 
supplies, and that any contracts they may make will be fully 
carried out. Unless the farmer knows that he is to have a sure 
market for his products he cannot be blamed if he does not turn 
his attention to vegetables and fruits. As has been pointed out, 
contracts should be made with reliable farmers as soon as it is 
definitely decided that a canning factory is assured. Pay 
promptly for supplies the first season and there is not apt to be 
much" trouble experienced in after seasons. Or, if the opportunity 
is open, do as some Southern canners are now doing: Buy or rent 
forty or fifty acres, or whatever land will be needed, and raise 
supplies directly and save the profits that would otherwise go to 
the farmers. Every successful cannery, by wiping out any preju- 
dice that may exist among farmers of its vicinity against chang- 
ing their crops in part, renders it easier for new ones to provide 
for the necessary supplies. 

High freight rates are the most serious obstacle of all encoun- 
tered. It is the one that will continue the longest, but even it is 
not sufficient to offset the many advantages the South oflfers for 
the industry. Freight on the cans from Baltimore, Chicago or 
other manufacturing jDoints, is a serious matter, and especially to 
interior factories debarred from the water routes. It is but a 
matter of a short time, it is believed, when this will be partly 
overcome by the establishment of centrally located can making 
plants. At present the freights have to be paid, though, no mat- 
ter how high they may be. In the event of the canner seeking 
distant markets this obstacle likewise tends to somewhat further 
reduce his profits. In other lines of business by effective organic 
zation and continued opposition before railroad commissions 
freights are kept down. Southern canners must do the same a& 
Southern lumbermen, naval stores operators, etc. They must 
unite and fight this and other battles as one man. The obstacle 
can be wiped out in this way. The nucleus of such an organiza- 



CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 



DANIEL G. TRENCH & CO., 

CHICAQO, 
CanniM^ Factory Outfitters. 




74 CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 

tion is at hand ia the Southern Canners' Association. Self- 
interest must soon force all Southern canners into it and in the 
combination will be found power sufficient to reduce the evil of 
excessive freight rates, of which so many complain, to a mini- 
mum. 

There is, it will be seen, no obstacle that can greatly hinder 
the development of the canning industry to enormous propor- 
tions in the South. 



CHAPTEK XVI. 
Can-Making^ in tlie 8outh. 

At the present stage of the canning industry in the South 
there are but few factories using a sufficient number of cans in a 
season to justify them in putting in special plants and manufac- 
turing them. No factory, in fact, will find it profitable to do this 
if the necessary supplies are not nearly up to the 1,000,000 mark. 
Canning but 300,000 to 500,000 cans in an entire season, large as 
tliese figures may appear to canners just starting in the business, 
the wisdom of putting in can-making machinery is doubtful. 

There is a way, however, in which the manufacture of cans 
may be introduced in the South with exceedingly bright pros- 
pects of its proving a profitable industry. The establishment of 
well-located factories for this purpose is referred to. A factory 
established in or near Savannah, for instance, would be within 
easy reach of South Carolina and Georgia canneries that will re- 
quire in the next season in the neighborhood of 3,000,000 cans, 
and the demand from which will increase and a further demand 
be created by the establishment of other canning factories. A 
can-making factory so situated would have the advantage of 
water freights on the tin plates from Baltimore, New York or 
other Northern ports, and would be enabled to furnish cans at 
least at as low prices as the houses North. The great advantage 
to the Southern can ner would lie in the reduced freight charges 
on em\ ties. Or, if thought better, a more central point for a larger 
number of canneries could be selected for the can-making factory, 
the tin plates brought by water to Savannah or any other near 
Southern port, and thence by rail to the factory. It is hardly 
necessary to point out the fact that the difference in freight room 
between the tin plate and the number of cans that could be made 
from it is tremendous. 



CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 



75 



DANIEL G. TRENCH & CO , 

CHICAGO, 
Canning Factory Outfitters. 




Baker's Power Tomato Scalder and Washer. 



Capacity 80 to 225 Bushels Per Hour, as Required. 



The only invention on the market that will thoroughly wash 
tomatoes before scalding or during the scalding process, sub- 
merged not less than three inches. By so doing, the heavy mud 
will fall to the bottom of the tank, and light, muddy scum will 
float on top of the water and not come in contact with tomatoes 
again, as is generally done with all other devices on the market 
for scalding purposes. 



76 CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 

With one factory to supply Southeast Georgia and the South- 
ern and Southeastern parts of South Carolina, another could be 
established in the more northern part of Georgia to supply the can- 
neries of that section, of Tennessee and Alabama. A factory 
could also be established in North Carolina to meet the demand in 
that State and parts of South Carolina and Virginia. Others will 
naturally suggest themselves. Interior canneries are the ones to 
whom the establishment of such factories appeal the most, those 
on the coast being in a position to bring their cans down at less ex- 
pense by steamers or schooners. The starting of several of these 
can factories is inevitable. Many Southern canners have discussed 
it, and in a season or two more, finding the number of canneries 
greatly increased in this section and the demand for cans at a 
point where large can-making plants in several places will be in a 
position to secure enough orders to run them profitably, canners 
will see this new industry added to the South's long list, and the 
most important adjunct to canning permanently established here. 
Thegreat saving that will be effected for Southern canners will 
aid in offsetting the disadvantage of high freight rates they will 
I)robably labor under for a few years longer in shipping their 
goods to markets at any distance. 

When can-making is introduced in the South care should be 
taken to secure the best machinery and skilled labor and to turn 
out cans equal to the best that the progressive and well-equipped 
establishments of the North and West place on the market. 
Southern canners must have well and properly made cans and 
while they will be eager to aid a home industry of this character 
they must in protection to themselve insist that its output is of 
good quality. Every year the cost of making cans is being 
reduced by the improvement of old machines and the invention 
of new ones. It is not the intention to enter into any discussion 
of the relative merits of the plants for this purpose now on the 
market. Any Southern canner or combination T)f canners, or any 
outside parties, who contemplate entering upon the manufacture 
of cans, can secure all necessary information by corresponding 
with the firms manufacturing machinery of this character. In- 
vestigate well before investing. 

It may be that some Southern canners are so situated that they 
will, after a thorough consideration of all circumstances, conclude 
that it is advisable for them to manufacture their own cans. For 
their convenience the following statement, found in the catalogues 
of supply houses, is given. They will provide information to pur- 
chasers as to the method of manufacture. The standard sizes of 
cans, etc., will be found under chapter XIX. 



CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 



17- 



DANIEL G. TRENCH & CO. 

CHICAGO, 
Cannings Factory Outfitters,, 




THE "EUREKA" APPLE PARER. 



APPLE PAPERS 



•AND- 



APPU^ WORKING MACHINERY 



•OF ALL KINDS. 



Send, for Catalogues, &c. 



78 CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 

COST OF MACHINERY NECESSARY TO MAKE 3,000 
CANS PER DAY. 

FOK MAKING CANS ONLY. 

1 No. 1 Body Former ^ 9 00 

1 pair No. 8 Snips 2 00 

1 22-inch square Shear 40 00 

1 No. 4 Press Tops and Bottoms 65 00 

1 No. 3 Press Caps 50 00 

1 Gallon Combination Die, Tops and Bottoms. 38 00 

1 2-lb. Combination '• " " 35 00 

1 3-lb. " " " " 39 00 

1 Gallon Cap Die 13 00 

1 3-lb. " 13 00 

12-lb. " 11 00 

5 Floating Plates 5 00 

15 Assorted size Seam blocks, $1.00 each 15 00 

5 Seaming Machines 12 50 

1 Hand Solder Cutter 15 00 

1 Rosin Grinder 20 00 

6 pair Hatchet Irons 6 00 

6 pair Floating Irons 8 00 

Files, Handles and small Tools 10 00 

$406 50 
This can be increased to 6,000 i^er day by adding Seaming 
Machines and Irons, or any articles not needed can be omitted. 
There is doubtless a <?ood discount for cash. 



CHAPER XVII. 

Tlie Making of Contracts. 

The making of contracts for canning supplies is not a diflficult 
m.atter. State exactly what you coutract to purchase, the quality, 
the amount, the price, how the goods are to be delivered and how 
they are to be paid for. Use as simple language as possible. Read 
it over carefully, see that every point is covered and understood 
by both parties to the agreement, make two copies, have each 
party sigu both of them and each party keep one copy for refer- 



CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 79 



DANIEL G. TRENCH & CO., 

CHICAGO, 
Canning Factory Outfitters. 




THE SPRAGUE CORN CUTTER. 



The only machine for cutting corn off the cob which does its 
work perfectly. 



Capacity, 20,000 to 30,000 cans per day. 



We furnish all Machinery necessary for Corn-Canning Plants, 
COOKEKS, SILKERS, KETTLES, &c. 



j|i^*Send for Catalogues. 



80 CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 

' ence. Stand by the terms of the contract and there will be no 
trouble. 

In making contracts for supplies have them of a definite char- 
acter. Do not agree to buy the product of a certain number of acres 
or, as one unfortuate South Carolina canner did, to buy all that 
the farmer delivers at the factory. Okra was the article speci- 
fied in this unique contract, and the factory ran but one season 
under this management. 

Here is a form of contract that will give an idea as to what 
should be brought out. Legal verbiage is not necessary. There 
need be no tiresome reiteration. Make the sentences to the point 
and their interpretation unclouded : 

Maysville, N. C, June 1, 1893. 

The Phoenix Canning Company, of Maysville, hereby agrees 
to purchase from John Smith the following produce at the stipu- 
lated prices. This produce is to be delivered at the factory of this 
company in Maysville in quantities not to exceed 75 bushels a 
day. All produce so delivered is to be paid for in cash at the end 
of each week, on surrender of receipts given for each load deliv- 
ered. It is expressly agreed that no produce shall be accepted by 
this company except that which is ripe, firm and otherwise in first- 
class condition. For any produce not of this standard special ar- 
rangements may be made : 
Article. Quantity in Bushels. Price per Bushel. 

Tomatoes 1,000 I .20 

Peas 500 .30 

Beans 500 .20 

Peaches 1,000 .65 

etc., etc. 

[Signed] Phcenix Canning Co., 

Per W. Jones, Pres't. 

I hereby agree to furnish the produce specified above, at the 
stipulated prices and under the conditions set forth. 

[Signed] John Smith. 

This can readily be modified to suit the demands of any fac- 
tory. 

A form of contract for future deliveries in use by a number of 
Southern canners is given below : 

No 189... 

buy and 

NORTH GEORGIA CANNING GO., Dalton, Ga., sell the fol- 
lowing Varieties of Canned Goods at the prices and on the terms 
and conditions named below : 



CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 



81 



Number of 

Cases. 



Varieties. 



3-lb Stand. Peaches.. 
2-lb " Peaches.. 
3-lb Second Peaches 
2-lb " Peaches. 

3-lb Pie Peaches 

2-lb Pie Peaches 

6-lb Pie Peaches 

1-gal Pie Peaches 

2-lb Tomatoes 

3-lb Tomatoes 

6-lb Tomatoes 

1-gal Tomatoes 

Okra and Tomatoes.. 

Succotash 

Blackberries 

3-lb Apples 

2-lb Apples 

1-gal Apples 



Price per 
Dozen. 



Terms. — Sixty days acceptance from date of shipment with 
Bill of Lading attached, buyer having privilege of discounting on 
presentation, within 10 days of shipment, less 1^ per cent., or at 
the rate of 9 per cent, per annum. Payment to made be in New 
York Exchange or the equivalent. 

Conditions. — It is understood the above prices are for the 
goods f. o b. Dalton, Ga., or with shipping point common there- 
with. Seller not liable for non-delivery, if caused by destruction 
of cannery by fire or unavoidable casualties. 

It is further agreed that all goods sold shall be shipped as soon 
as ready, but not later than thirty days after the packing of the 
latest variety mentioned in the assortment, and if for any cause 
whatsoever there should be goods unshipped by December 1st of 
the year contract is made, they shall be then billed and paid for. 

In case of damage to crop, by which the seller is unable to 
make a full pack of any of the varieties named, he shall be liable 
for the delivery of fully 75 per cent, of such varieties upon which 
a short pack is made. 

All claims for swelled tins must be made and bill rendered 
for the same prior to July 1st following the date of sale, and goods 
held subject to order of seller. 



82 CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 

All claims other than for swelled tins must be presented 
within ten days from date of the receipt of goods. 

Remarks 



Buyer. 

NORTH GEORGIA CANNING CO., tellers. 

Per 

Signed in Triplicate. 

Do not enter into verbal contracts. They allow too much 
room for disj^ute, and are too frequently productive of misunder- 
standing and costly litigation. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 
Allied Industries. 



There are several industries that naturally suggest themselves 
as being well suited to be carried on in conjunction with the can- 
ning business. It is not the intention here to more than refer to 
them, leaving it to the intelligent canner to adopt the one or more 
which he may find himself in an advantageous position to add to 
his canning business. 

The making of tomato ketchup is the one that will first occur 
to him if he is packing that vegetable to any extent. The skins 
of the tomatoes, valueless in canning, are boiled down in ketchup 
making and the necessary condiments added. In large canning 
factories North after the skins have been boiled into a liquid it is 
run off into barrels and disposed of to the ketchup manufacturers. 
Southern canners having no such market may find it profitable 
to make the ketchup themseves. 

The making of butters from the skins of peaches, apples, pears, 
etc., is another way of turning to a good use what would other- 
wise be an absolute waste. If properly made a ready market 
should be found for these products. 

Making jellies, jams, etc., from fruits and berries opens up 
another way in which the canning factory may be made to i^ay 
better. A special department for the making ot ketchups, butters, 
jellies, jams, etc., would be a valuable addition to most canneries 
in the South. 

The manufacture of fruit extracts, and of ciders, and vinegar, 
and the putting up of pickles, are industries that may be intro- 
duced on a small scale with excellent prospects of deriving rea- 
sonable profits from them. The outlay for the necessary apparatus 
for any of this work will not be heavy. 




GENERAL At 



Special 



THE BAKER CONTINUOUS PROCESS MACHINE, 



«^ FOR PROCKSSING ^ 

^ XOMATOKS and FRUIT. ^ 



Tlie manufacturers guarantee a 
savins: of six cents perdozen on \l/ 
cost of processing: \vitli tliis nia^ *Mt^ 




SEND FOR DETAILED DESCRIPTION AND TESTIMONIALS. 

^DANIEL G. TRENCH <& CO.— 

CHICAGO, ILL. 

.™. Aos.//^/^oR^THE.^ ^^ ^ Improved Canning Machinery. 

(FACTORY, MUSCATINE. IO\VA.) 

Special Attention Given to Equipping Canning Plants Complete. 



CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 

CHAPTER XIX. 
General Information of Talue. 

STANDARD SIZES FOR CANS. 



83 





Diameter. 


Height. 


No. 1 Cans 


2| in. 
8 7-16 in. 
4 3-16 in. 

6i in. 


4 in. 


No. 2 ('ans 


4 9-16 in. 


No. 3 Cans 


41 in. 


No. 6 Cans, twice the quantity of No. 3 
No. 10 Cans 


7 in. 



STANDARD SIZES OF BOXES. 
Sizes of Boxes for Canned Goods — inside measure men t. 

2 dozen Cans, size 1 U^x Six 8] iiielies 

2 " " " 2 141x10^x9^ " 

2 " " " 3 n^xlS xlOi " 

4 " " " 1 IbAxUlx 8} " 

1 " " " 1, flat IHx 8*x 4] " 

1 " " " 2, flat 14[xl0ix 4f '* 

h " Gallon Cans 19x12^x71 " 

i " " " high boxes 19 xl2fxl4 " 

1 '• " " flat boxes 25Jxl9 x 7 

1 " No. 6 Cans 20|xlo|x 6^ " 

SIZES OF TIN PLATE USED IN CAN MAKING. 

I. C. 14x20, Coke B. V. Grade. 

I. C. 12x12, Coke B. V. Grade. 

I. C. 13x26, Coke B. V. Grade. 

I. C. 14x20 1. B. Grade. 

I. C. 14x20 Charcoal. 

SHIPPING WEIGHTS FOR CANNED GOODS. 

No. 1 Boxes 26 pounds. 

N o. 2 Boxes 46 pou nds. 

No. 3 Boxes 70 loounds. 

6 



84 CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 



VARIETIES GENERALLY USED FOR CANNING. 

Apples Baldwin, Golden Pippin, Greening. 

Apricots ..Moorpark, Large Early, Royal. 

Blackberries Lawton, Prolific, Common. 

Cherries ..Morello, Late Duke, May Duke. 

Gooseberries Seedlings, Downings, Smith's Improved. 

Peaches Hale's Early, Crawford's Early, Old Mixon, 

Lemon Cling, Smock's, Heath. 

Pears Bartlett, LeConte, Lawrence. 

Plums Green Gage, Gellemberg, Orleans. 

Quinces Augers, Champion, Seedling. 

Raspberries Antwerp, Black Cap, Brandywine. 

Strawberries Wilson's, Hoffman, Duchess. 

Whortleberries and Blueberries, wild (not cultivated). 

Asparagus Oyster Bay. 

String Beans Early Valentine, Early Mohawk, Black Wax. 

Lima Beans White Lima, Seta. 

Corn Egyptian, Stowell's Evergreen. 

Okra Dwarf, Prolific. 

Peas Extra Early, Champion, MarroAvfat. 

Pumpkin No special variety. 

Squash Boston Marrow, Hubbard. 

Tomatoes Perfection, Acme, New Queen. 



CANNED GOODS LAW OF MARYLAND. 

[Laws similar to this have been adopted by a number of 
States and it is to be presumed that as canning becomes of greater 
importance as an industry in the South that the legislatures of 
this section will enact laws of a like nature.] 

Section 1. Be it enacted bu the General Assembly of Mary- 
land, That it shall be unlawful in this State for any packer of or 
dealer in hermetically canned or preserved fruits, vegetables or 
articles of food (excepting oysters), to sell such canned or pre- 
served fruits, vegetables or other articles of food aforesaid, unless 
the cans, jars or vessels which contain the same shall bear the 
name and address of the person, firm or corporation that canned 
or packed the article, or the name of the dealer who purchases 
the same from the packer or his agent ; such name and address 
shall be plainly printed on the label in letters not less than three- 
sixteenths of an inch in height and one eighth of an inch in 
breadth, logether with a brand-mai'k or term indicating clearly 
the grade or quality of the article contained therein. 



CANNING IN THE SOUTH. 85 

Sec. 2. And , be it inacted, That all packers and dealers in 
" Soaked Goods," put up from products dried or cured before can- 
Ding or sealing, shall in addition to complying with the provis- 
ions of section one of this Act, cause to be printed plainly diagon- 
ally acress the face of the label in good legible type, one-half of an 
inch in height and three-eighths of an inch in width, the words 
"Soaked Goods." 

Sec. 8. And be it enacted. Any person, firm or corporation 
violating any of the provisions of this Act shall be deemed guilty 
of a misdemeanor and fined not less than fifty dollars nor more 
than one thousand dollars, to be recovered by indictment in any 
court in this State having criminal jurisdiction, one-half of said 
fine to be paid to the informer and the other half to the State 
Treasury, as other fines are paid. 
Sec. 4. This Act shall take effect from November 1, 1886. 



RULES FOR CALCULATING THE SPEED OF PULLEYS 
AND GEARS. 

In calculating for gears, multiply or divide by the number of 
teeth as may be required. In calculating for pulleys, multiply 
or divide by their diameter in inches. 

The driving wheel is called the Driver^ and the driven wheel 
the Driven. 

TO FIND THE DIAMETER OF THE DRIVING PULLEY. 

Multiply the diameler of the driven pulley, in inches, by its 
required number of revolutions, and divide this product by the 
number of revolutions of the driver. The quotient will be the 
diameter of the driving pulley in inches. 

TO FIND THE DIAMETER OF THE DRIVEN PULLEY. 

Reveise the above operation, multiply together diameter of 
driving pulley and its number of revolutions, and dividing pro- 
duct by requiied number of revolutions of driven. The quotient 
will be the diameter of the driven pulley. 

TO FIND THE NUMBER OF REVOLUTIONS OF THE DRIVEN PULLEY, 

Multiply the diameter of the driver by its number of revolu- 
tions, and divide the product by the diameter of the driven pulley. 
The quotient will be the number of revolutions of the driven 
pulley. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




014 420 932 1 f 



$1.00 FOR ONE YEAR, 



The Best Investment 

MADE BY 

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SAVANNAH, GA. 



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